Questioning Luke Smith on Consciousness, Catholicism & Lust

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBY61vv91Ro

A few months ago, I did an interview with Luke Smith. It was his return interview, and people were very happy to see that Luke is alive. Not only is he alive, but he is alive in Christ. Thank you, Luke, so much for coming on. People had lots of questions for you, and we’re going to go over those questions, so thank you so much.

Yeah, yeah, sounds good. Sounds great. It’s good to hear from everyone again. I guess we can go ahead and get into it.

So the first question: one of the most impactful quotes I’ve ever heard from a random video of yours was where you said, “Yes, God has a plan, but you are in it.” How have you personally lived that message?

Well, I wish I could perfectly live to that message, because the fact is we have opportunities literally every day to be more active participants in our salvation. But you know, everything in life… and I found… I mean, actually, you even asking that question makes me seem like, “Oh, I barely do this at all.” But you know, all of us have just been given so many opportunities to do so much. If you even seize one percent of… I mean, you should seize 100% of those, but if you even seize a couple of those, you can make a massive difference.

So I think… I remember the video I said that in, and I think the real issue is never talk yourself into a corner where you are like, “Well, I have no say in my life; I’m just predestined to do this, that, or the other.” Guess what? That’s going to be the path of least resistance. That’s the easiest for you. You can make all these great excuses for doing nothing or doing whatever you know you can do while lazy.

So that’s something, obviously, I still find myself in. I need to rewatch that video because I need some of that medicine. But yeah, I mean, there are lots of… I would just say part of growing up, part of being kind of who God created you to be… I mean, we are His icons in a way, and we’re supposed to… He created this universe, and we are, in a way, His agents on earth, right?

Part of growing up and part of salvation… I think salvation is a process. The kind of realizations you have in life is that, like, actually, I don’t need to be this depressed person who always feels like the world is just giving me a bad lot. I’m someone who can affect what’s going on, and in fact, I have a duty to do so.

So I think when we grow up in the modern world, you know, you go to public schooling, it’s the same thing every day. You’re put in this kind of box, and here’s what you do to do this, that, or the other. In reality, the box is totally open. We have so many possibilities in life, and we are kind of indoctrinated—not into specific beliefs. I mean, we are indoctrinated into specific beliefs, but we’re indoctrinated into kind of a mindset where you’re very passive. You just want to do the easy thing, you know?

All of us, including myself, we have to get out of that step by step and be really who, again, who God created us to be. I think that’s the beautiful thing about Orthodox theology is that it is synergistic, that we are working with the grace that God gives us and that we have free will. That is essential to Christianity.

I really think that this anti-free will narrative is used to demoralize people. It’s like, “Oh, you know, everything is just predetermined; everything is just a product of…” You know, they’ll say at one point that everything is random, but also your biology is determining everything about your life. But that’s the beautiful thing about Christianity: you do have agency over your life. If you’re not happy with the trajectory that you’re on, the best thing you can do is have goals and make practical steps of how you’re going to get there.

You only truly lose when you give up on those goals because you may achieve it. I mean, that’s what we’re kind of doing as Orthodox Christians. Our entire life is… the goal is to be like Christ, to be like the Christ and the Saints. We have to just focus on the day-to-day and the steps that are going to get us there. We can apply that to all aspects of our life.

But you’re totally right that we’re kind of socially conditioned to believe that there’s this box or it’s like, you know, if it’s like a video game, that there’s this very linear path that we can take. But really, the options are endless. You could do so many different things. It’s just, are you taking the steps to actually do it, to actually make it a reality?

I remember the video that guy’s quoting. It just came to me. There was a comment I got from kind of a Calvinist guy, and it was so good. It was so instructive because of how wrong it was. What he said is, you know, he said, “Listen, you probably have heard the metaphor that Martin Luther used or Calvin to talk about how…” Well, no, Luther in this… Luther, okay, so had the metaphor of saying, “Well, man is like a bridled ass; he’s a donkey, and either God can put a ride on him and tell him what to do, or the devil can.”

That kind of is the zeitgeist of mono-energism, like this idea that Protestants have. But this guy in the comments… it was such a good comment because he said, “Listen, I can’t force myself; I can’t choose to love someone. I can’t choose to feel this way. I don’t really have free will. God is just… either God lets you love someone or not.”

And that is not… I mean, the reason that is… it’s such a good error for him to have. But I think the whole point is the way he looks at things and the way, unfortunately, a lot of people look at, especially passions. In a way, love in this context is a passion. You might have feelings, you know, nice feelings about certain people, and yeah, you can’t necessarily force yourself to have good feelings about someone just out of the blue.

But what you can do is you can act in love. Love is not just some emotion; love is an action that interconnects all of us, and that emotion sometimes comes after acts of love. I think it’s such a good example because the modern man—not just the Protestant world, but like kind of the modern way of looking at things—defines people as if, you know, they are just these shells that passions move as if they’re forces of the universe, as if, you know, gravity just draws us to do these things and we have no say in it.

But the truth is, you actually do. Even if everything inside of you—even if all of your passions, even if all of your emotions are telling you, “I don’t want to do this,” you still can, you know? And I think it’s important. It’s a little thing where… I mean, I remember I’m going to tell you the stupidest epiphany of my life, okay? And maybe we’re spending too much on this one question, but it’s such a good one.

The stupidest epiphany of my life… did I mention this the last time I talked to you? I don’t know. So, about lying in bed, okay? This is the dumbest thing in the world. It’s not even a good story, but there was one day, it was like a Saturday. I woke up; I’m just in bed. I don’t need to do anything. I don’t have anything to do. Part of me is like, “Well, I could get up, I could do my prayers, I could go out, there’s work I could do,” you know, “or I could just sit here and be lazy.”

As I sit there, you know, the passions come to me: “Oh, I just want to… oh, it’s so nice and warm, oh, it feels so comfortable.” You know, it’s like in the scales of your brain, there’s more and more and more and more reasons for me to just stay in bed and be lazy. But nonetheless, I was like, “You know what? I’m just going to get up. I’m just going to do my day.”

And it’s a stupid… it was a stupid epiphany for me because it’s like I have every reason to do X, but I don’t have to do X. I can just… I don’t have to lay here. I can just… it’s almost like I have free will.

And obviously, that’s a stupid and mundane example, but it’s what happens to people. Why this is probably important for someone is that people talk themselves into this mindset where it’s just, “Well, I feel this way; I keep getting these kind of passions telling me this, so my brain, which just makes decisions by itself without my free will, is just like a force of nature.” Like, there’s just weight on the scale, so I have to do this.

And the truth is, you don’t.

Anyway, so yeah, that’s really well said. I think this is a good segue into the next question that someone commented: “How did you overcome lust, Luke? How did you overcome that?” Because everything you just said, you know, young men are just… they’re giving in to the weight and taking the easier path. It’s all around us on Instagram, TikTok, all these things that lead us into lust. So how can they overcome lust?

Well, your question is very assumptive. No, I have not overcome lust entirely. But when it comes to specific things, we all know, you know, things like pornography and things like that. I did a video that everyone has probably seen who knows me, where I talk about just some of the nitty-gritty how you separate yourselves from your temptations.

I mean, the truth is we fall into temptation—or let’s not even say fall into temptation. Again, we’re always doing it; we’re choosing to do it. But the issue is people make it easy to fall into it. They have a daily routine; you know, they have all these apps on their phone where, you know, I’m scrolling down on Instagram and like every other account I follow is girls that, you know, look like this.

Or, you know, we don’t have to talk about sexual lust; you know, it could be any kind of vices that we have. So I think really most people who are struggling with those things, the very first thing—and this should be the easiest thing to do, it’s the easiest executive decision to force yourself into—is just uninstalling those apps off the phone. You don’t need any apps on your phone.

You know, I guess calling tech, you know what I mean? Social media apps… I mean, you shouldn’t have social media anyway. But like, especially apps on your phone, if you don’t want like an anchor of temptation in your pockets all the time, you just don’t want that. I mean, cell phones are… they really are like demonic in so many cases. They just make sin so easy.

So step number one is always making sure that sin is not easy. Make sure you go out of your way to do any of this kind of stuff. Number two, I think accountability with others. Obviously, your priest, confession, but also other people in your life.

The thing to remember is people would not… I mean, again, to use like things like pornography or something like that as an example, you would not be tempted by that stuff if you were surrounded by your family and your friends all the time. Yes, okay, that’s just a fact. You will not have those feelings; you will not fall into that kind of stuff if you have accountability.

And the fact is, this is kind of a statement of the modern world again. We are people; we are already living in pods, okay? All of us are. We make fun of people who say that, but we already are because we are so separated from others. I think you really have to go… you kind of have to reorganize your life over making it more difficult for you to fall into these kind of things.

Yeah, and you know, other little recommendations that I would say to people: if you ever, let’s say, move houses, okay? This is just something psychological about the human brain. When you are in a new environment, there’s so many of your habits you can just totally redefine.

And I don’t just mean moving; it could be getting a new computer, getting a new cell phone. You know, moving… you know, maybe your computer’s on this side of your office; you move it to that side. Sometimes little things like that, you can actually kind of hack your brain. You can kind of hack your dopamine cycles.

You know, I’ve done that when I’ve struggled with, you know, sometimes even things like the lazy computer. “Oh, I have nothing to do; I’ll just pull up the computer. I’ll pretend to work, but I end up falling down some internet rabbit hole, and I get red-pilled on something that doesn’t matter.”

You know, who cares?

Yeah, I don’t want to dismiss all of that. But I would say that kind of stuff, like you just… and ultimately, you know, remember that, like… well, this is going to sound weird, but you know, God is watching. I don’t mean that in kind of a fascistic way, but like, we’re all in this together. We all, like, kind of noetically, we’re all in this world. You are not really alone.

You’re only apparently alone, and little demons can whisper in your ear and make you fall into these habits. So I would just say all of you, you are not going to just talk yourself… I mean, well, you could. That’s a very saintly thing if you can talk yourself into that, but I doubt you can.

I think what you seriously need to do is physically change things about your life. Be in a different situation; have it not easy for you to fall into those kind of… and again, this could… we’re kind of speaking about pornography, but obviously, this applies to everything else, right?

And once you’re over that hump… and remember also, like, once you’re over the hump, or if you struggled a little bit, eventually you’re going to feel things are going to get a little easier. All of a sudden, you know, some people will say, “There’s a hump; you know, after two months or so, you just won’t feel it again.”

You know, you won’t feel these kind of temptations. And that’s not to say you should always be vigilant, right? You know, I need to be vigilant, right? If I see something inappropriate, I want to make sure my eyes… you know, I’m no saint. You know, I don’t want to even open up for that temptation. I don’t want to give the devil a foothold.

So get in the habit of if you see something that could lead you to sin, look the opposite way. You know, you have to do that. I mean, that’s… you know, Christ is telling people to gouge out their eyes and chop off their hands to avoid sin. Like, it’s serious, you know?

So you can move around; you can move your computer. You can spend more time with people in real life, and you’ll be less tempted for these kind of, you know, autistic sins that you commit by yourself.

Yeah, exactly. And I think what we so often forget is we should be asking God for help. We can ask the Saints to pray for us exactly to overcome this. And what really helped me was going to confession. It’s like it gets embarrassing when you keep confessing the same thing over and over and over again, especially this.

And really, like what you said about not making it easy is… the harder you make it for yourself, like if it’s on Instagram, you’re seeing… or TikTok, you’re seeing some, you know, people dancing or something, and it leads you kind of down this rabbit hole. Like, you don’t need the apps or just making it more difficult for you to kind of fall down this basically hole is what happens.

Because the biggest sin that’s really new to the modern age is… is boredom. Most of human history, people did not have all this extra time just to scroll and to seek dopamine. They were focusing on their survival. They didn’t have as much energy to do these specific things.

Like, if you’re going and working out all day and you’re at work or you’re volunteering, you’re at church, you’re hanging out with friends, you’re out doing things, when you get home, you’re not going to… you’re just going to want to go to sleep.

That’s where a lot of the, I think, for young men, it happens is in the bed. You’re on your phone. It’s like those are the two factors or wherever it’s happening. And I think men are very physical, and so moving, like you said, moving your room around or doing a physical change is really going to make a big difference.

And also, I also experienced that it does get easier over time. And the reason for that is neuroplasticity. It’s kind of like walking on a path. When you’re going on a hike or something, you see that the path doesn’t have any grass growing on it, and that’s how your brain kind of is. When you keep sinning, you keep doing the sin every day, it’s really easy to relapse because there’s less resistance on the path.

Versus every day that you don’t walk on it, you know, grass will grow back on the path; there’s going to be more resistance to it. So once you get to like 10 days, 20 days, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, it gets so much easier to resist it because you’ve gotten rid of the habit.

So it’s like understanding your brain, about how we make habits that can be used for good things and bad things. Like if you make a habit to pray every day, it’s going to be easier to pray. If you make it a habit to fall into this, you know, you’re bored, you’re on your phone, you’re in bed, and you fall into the same sin, you need to make it more difficult for yourself.

And there’s lots of ways that you can do it. One realization that I had is if I never wanted to do this again, I have the power to do it. It’s like no one’s forcing me to do this. It’s just like if I knew I was going to die if I did it again, I wouldn’t do it. Or do you really not have that much self-control?

And we need that self-control as Christians. So realizing that, it’s like I have no one to blame but myself in really hating the sin. I started to just despise it. I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I’ve literally done this for so many times. I keep falling into it. I keep telling God I’m sorry, but I keep doing it.”

But eventually, just don’t give up. I mean, just take it one day at a time.

Yeah, I think it is, again, on things like that, I think it’s important to remember too, every time you resist the sin, it is an eternal victory. Because even if you fail again, I mean, it’s important to remember, like when your soul has a true choice between good and evil, every time you choose good, it’ll be a little easier to choose good later on as well.

And every time you choose evil, it’s a little harder to choose good; it’s a little easier to choose evil. So, you know, don’t be discouraged as well. People who fall… yeah, people who fall, we don’t… no one falls here. Kyle and I, we don’t do the sin stuff anymore, obviously.

But like there’s a way in which, like for any of these vices, the more your soul gets used to saying yes to God, the more you get us… I mean, you can say neuroplasticity. Let’s throw some bones to our atheist viewers right now. It’s all neuroplasticity, guys.

So the more you make these decisions, and again, even if you fall, the fact that you didn’t fall last time, that’s going to make it easier in the future. So like never get disheartened. You know, the demons, you know, they are going to speak in your ear. They’re going to tell you, “Oh, it’s no big deal if you do this sin.” And then once you do it, they say, “Oh my, this is the worst thing ever. Oh, you’re totally lost.”

You know, yeah, so that is nonsense. And obviously, it’s not coherent, but those are just the temptations that, you know, they give us the kind of sop. It’s weird to say that, sop us. It is, that’s true.

So yeah, just be accountable, be around people, do you know, all this kind of stuff. And you know, this goes for like every sin. Obviously, this goes for one we were talking about earlier today: gossip. That is like… and gossip sounds like a female sin. “Oh, the girls gossip, blah, blah, blah.” Go, men gossip all the time, and it’s a sin that can cause eternal damage. You know, it really is.

It is like the purest distillation of pride, you know, like kind of gossip. But you know, there’s sin all over. I don’t want to take more time from other questions, so we can keep going unless…

No, I completely agree. Learning the power of just silence, of like just being more mindful about what you’re saying and not always needing to say something, and being more reflective and thoughtful. Remember, like the words that you do say should be very meaningful.

And you know, you should keep in mind that, you know, God is always watching and that, you know, we should keep that in mind. Or even just imagine your priest in the room. Would you say that? Would you gossip?

But yeah, yeah, yeah. So the next question, kind of moving into this free will consciousness discussion, is in the previous discussion we talked about… you talked about consciousness. You said that you read a specific blog on consciousness that really helped you kind of see that consciousness is more than just something material.

I think that commenter might have misunderstood. I think I said I wrote about consciousness. So the argument of that… and I will actually say, actually, let’s go ahead and spoil my big reveal. So we talked about it before. So I am going to be making some YouTube videos. In fact, I’ve already made them. In fact, I’ve already made like 20 of them; they’re just not released on YouTube.

So after the Lenten season, I am going to start releasing videos. I don’t know, three a week on just different topics. Most of them are just me in the woods talking about whatever. And this is actually one of the things I talk about, like the importance of consciousness.

But no, the blog post I was talking about is some of my own reflections and specifically… maybe I was talking about the Chinese room or something in that blog post. But you know, the idea being is like if you imagine the physical universe, right? The physical universe is kind of like a giant mathematical function, or it’s kind of like a giant syntactic operation, right?

So you have raw material of matter; you have forces that act on the matter. And of course, the forces, you know, kind of in the way of a mathematical function that can take an input and give you an output and all this kind of stuff.

My argument is that consciousness, you know, it’s one thing to say that material interactions can account for a lot of the behavior of the human brain. That’s one thing that you could actually say, “Oh, maybe you have atoms; they’re just so complex, right? They’re producing the complexity of the human brain.” That actually is something, you know, plausible.

But my point is that consciousness is not just… it obviously is not just behavior. It is consciousness. It’s a totally different ontology. It is not something… it’s not… we’re describing a syntactic operation.

Basically, my point is in the same way when you have a mathematical function, that mathematical function has kind of like a range, right? Where you put in math, and it’s only going to put out math. It’s not going to output some other character. It’s not going to put out an emoji or something like that, or it’s not going to output a smell or something. You know what I mean?

It has a certain range. In the same way, the material universe, if you imagine a materialistic universe as a kind of giant calculator that can do complex operations on matter, it can do that, but it’s only producing matter. You know, consciousness is very clearly kind of another dimension that interacts with our world.

And this, I think, if you think about it kind of… I don’t know if you think about it clearly, this is almost like a tautology. I’m not saying that this is absolute direct proof of God or whatever. You know, that’s not actually what I’m saying.

But what I am saying is the materialistic view of the universe, that consciousness is and therefore consciousness has to be some kind of mere emergent property of the brain, it has to be something that just kind of happens accidentally. I don’t think that’s a coherent thing.

You could even say maybe some physical interaction of the brain interacts with consciousness, but I think… I pray that this actually makes sense what I’m saying. Again, I’ve actually recorded videos talking about this. Maybe it’s worthwhile to like actually set it in a syllogism and like, I don’t know, write it up.

But you know, other people have made kind of arguments like this. And I think really if you look at the history of like Western philosophy or let’s even say like Roman Catholic philosophy, one of the things that separates Roman Catholic or let’s say Scholastic philosophy in the West from, you know, traditional Orthodox theology is, as Orthodox people will tell you, a lack of nous, right?

Nous is consciousness, okay? In a way, it’s not exactly the same; it’s not exactly the same. Important to be clear, but the word nous in Greek originally… that word has a very narrowly perceptive… you know, you would say that person is in my nous, right? Like I can see him; he’s in my perception.

And you know, one thing that happened in the West is this gradual… this focus… it’s almost like you ignore the conscious aspect of the universe. You look at, you know, material interactions; you look at rational philosophy and all this kind of stuff, and consciousness was kind of defined out of existence in Western philosophy.

So, you know, the Scholastics, you know, they do have… they have census it mean, but it gradually assumes kind of a different meaning in Scholastic philosophy. So, you know, there are a lot of things that are… this is weirdly analogous. I know I’m just going all over the place at this point.

This is actually kind of analogous to the so-called essence-energy distinction or the idea in Aristotelianism. I mean, it makes sense in Aristotelianism because Aristotelianism is kind of like pantheistic. But the idea that God in Roman Catholicism is just pure act and there’s no… you know, there’s no like divine energy there… essence-energy distinction in God.

Catholics believe in an essence-energy distinction in everything else, but because Aristotle and actually the Muslims deny that, they take a lot from that viewpoint. Catholics, I think they lost… there’s less of this emphasis on nous.

And of course, obviously, like nous is all over the Bible. It’s important for people to realize, like even basic terms. Let’s say, as you probably know, like the word for repentance, right? So we understand that in the West almost as kind of a punitive, like kind of regret. You know, that’s kind of how repentance is.

But the word in Greek is actually based on the word for nous. It’s a renewing of consciousness; it’s a renewing, you know, a changing of our perception, like kind of the healing of like who we actually are. Not just, you know, I think is something that as time goes on in the West, you kind of… it’s discombobulated.

What happens in the modern world is one of two things. So people in the West, obviously, if you go to a… like when I was at the University of Arizona, there are a lot of people, you know, in the graduate program. They had a consciousness institute, and all the people in the consciousness institute are basically pseudo-scientists. Like they’re not… they’re, you know, they’re Hindu and all this kind of stuff.

Because the reality is, like rationalistic science has almost like excluded that as a possibility. And there’s also a perspective… I mean, you know, the perspective of like scientific behaviorism in the modern world, right? Where a person who endorses this philosophy is like Daniel Dennett.

So like Daniel Dennett more or less wrote a book called “Consciousness Explained,” which is really about how consciousness doesn’t exist, okay? That’s really his argument. And what it amounts to is his… if we really take seriously empiricism, like establishing objective scientific fact, you’ll realize very quickly that consciousness, even though it’s all of what we observe, it is not objective scientific fact. It can never be.

By its very nature, if we really take scientific empiricism to its logical conclusion, or at least objective scientific empiricism, you can’t believe in consciousness, which consciousness is the only thing we kind of perceive. It’s the vehicle through which we perceive everything.

So some modern philosophers… Dennett is a recent example, but the behaviorist philosophers in the West who are in ultimately this strand of thinking, they go to kind of the wild philosophical angle that like consciousness is somehow an illusion, which if it’s an illusion, how’s it illus… like you can’t have illusions if you don’t have consciousness.

I mean, you know, that’s…

So anyway, some of the videos I’m going to be putting out are on these kind of things. But the reality is I just want people to remember when it comes to undoing atheism, let’s say undoing like materialism, like everyone in our society, including people who grow up in religious backgrounds, all of us assume atheism.

All I really mean that, like when someone writes a history book, if you and I were to write a history book, implicitly we would be speaking to a hypothetical atheist audience. We’d have to deliberately be like… like if we’re writing the history of the church, it’s almost like we assume a materialistic universe. We can’t talk about the miracles; we’ll put those in footnotes or something like that, right?

But it’s not the same thing. And it’s important if you’re trying to undo atheism to remember that there are all these… the ways that we have of thinking that ignore something like consciousness, which is a very… it’s very clearly a non-materialistic thing in the universe.

We all have biases to exclude those kind of things from our analysis. And I think unless you are truly… I mean, you know, people say if you don’t have faith, pray for faith. And that’s not just because, “Oh, then like I’ll become irrational and I’ll believe things that I don’t have evidence for.” No, it actually is because you are in an epistemological bubble as an atheist.

And in order to get out of that, you kind of have to suspend your disbelief. And once you do that, you realize, “Oh, I could say religious people are in a bubble, but I was definitely in a bubble.” All of us kind of were. And once you take that leap of faith, it’s actually very easy to see how kind of funny you were, like how kind of silly you were originally, you know?

So that’s what I would say to people. I don’t know the guy who’s asking this question. I don’t know if he’s an atheist or whatever. I’m not exactly sure. But for those in that situation, like no one is going to be able to tie you down and force-feed you some specific set of information that is going to change your mind about something so fundamental.

Because the way you look at things is defined by this implicit bias that all of us have in the modern world. Whereas if you existed a thousand years ago, there’d be no… I mean, atheism would have been philosophically untenable. I mean, it’s just… no one… that’s crazy because you’re not built like we are really built. Almost it’s kind of demonic.

We are built to reach the conclusions of atheism. We are given assumptions that lead us to that conclusion kind of if you grow up in the modern world.

So, you know, that’s what I would say. Just suspend your disbelief, look at things from a new perspective, and just pray and do the things you need to do. I mean, that’s what I would say.

Yeah, I totally agree. We’re like playing in this Enlightenment paradigm, but that’s the problem. And that actual paradigm, it leads you to a dead end. It leads you epistemologically… you can’t justify… it leads you to skepticism. That’s where you are.

And like Hume is philosophically consistent and basically says, “I can’t believe in anything. I can’t even believe…” Like, it’s just not… you know, and that is philosophically perfectly consistent. He can do that. You know, he can say that.

But that’s where you are. And I will say I do object to a lot of the way philosophers kind of… even sometimes Christians who look at things… you know, I don’t think even the goal of philosophy is to objectively… you know, what’s the term they use?

I forget the terminology. Whatever. I am so unplugged from the university system now. It’s actually great. Oh my goodness, it’s been like… it’s close to 10 years since I was doing my PhD. It really is so relieving. I’ve totally forgotten basic terminology.

But you know, the fact is the world is not about establishing like 100% solid deductive facts about the universe. The whole… everything you do is based on a little bit of faith. Yes, if you don’t like the word faith, you could even use the word statistics in a way if that makes you feel better.

But like nothing we really know… I mean, maybe I’m agreeing with Hume in a way, but nothing we really know is 100% sure, right? So we have to judge based on plausibility, based on coherent views. Like what is a… you know, I mean, just as an example.

So let’s say you take like a modern scientist, whatever, Neil deGrasse Tyson kind of guy, right? So Neil deGrasse probably believes in aliens, right? Not because he has any evidence of it, but because his worldview is such that, “Oh, just statistically, there are so many planets; there’s probably life on one of them.” You know what I mean?

And I think really that obviously it’s not a deductively justifiable belief. I’m not saying I believe in aliens; I’m not saying I believe in space, actually. But you know, I think there’s a tendency… you know, it’s not really about establishing 100% belief; it’s about what is plausible as truth.

Like what worldview is kind of the one that is most coherent?

Yeah, and I noticed that a lot of these modern atheists, it’s like that Hume skepticism is where atheism and skepticism lead you. You can’t just… like you really cannot justify anything. But atheists want to say they’re skeptical, but then they don’t actually… like they just want to use it towards religion.

It’s not like, you know, I can make all these moral claims like, “Oh, you know, like abortion is a human right and, you know, LGBTQ rights and everything and democracy, these are all great, and you know, Christianity is evil and the God of the Old Testament is evil.” It’s like, “Wait, I thought you were a skeptic? Where… like you’re just making up fairy tales.”

It’s like, why would it… on their worldview, why would it matter if Christianity is made up and people want to follow it? It’s just as equal as their made-up fairy tale, like, right?

Yeah, one of the funniest… I feel like we’re going too long on this, but I just remembered about this. One of the funniest things I ever read was in the Immer student newspaper at Immer University a million years ago. Whoever wrote this, hopefully, is embarrassed. It was probably like 20 years ago.

But this guy was making this… and this is a perfect example of what we’re talking about because he was… I think this is while gay marriage was being legalized just all of a sudden in America. And he was writing this thing in defense of homosexuality or something like that.

And he said, “Well, scientists tell us that all the universe is just a bunch of atoms, so how can one configuration of atoms be moral and this one not?” So how can you say that homosexuality is wrong and blah, blah? And of course, obviously, that doesn’t just earn a belly laugh, but it’s like, okay, well, what’s the difference between… I mean, what’s the difference between a hate crime against the homosexual and like… is there no moral difference?

You know, so these people are blind. They are so blind to, I guess, like their… I mean, like you said, they might not believe in morality. They might say, “I don’t believe in morality,” but, oh, I believe in human rights, whatever those are. I don’t know how can you test a human right? Could I have a list of these? Can we empirically verify them?

Yeah, but yeah, yeah, that’s what I always ask.

Well, I think you mentioned something that leads me into my next topic. You talked about this kind of route of the West and scholasticism, and that kind of leads us, I think inevitably, to the Western atheism. And this kind of goes into the question someone asked: I would love to hear why you chose Eastern Orthodoxy over Catholicism.

Obviously, there’s the papal claims in theology. You being someone who studied Latin and, you know, was interested in Catholicism, why did you decide on Orthodoxy?

Well, you know, I think that’s a good question because I think really probably a lot of the people who might ask this… my guess is that many who… there are many people who are kind of between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say, like, in terms of history, in terms of faith, in terms of pretty much every issue, I think most of those people gravitate naturally to Orthodoxy.

They’d probably say if you really had to pin them down, “What is the historically like, you know, most loyal choice of these two?” I think Roman Catholicism is just… it… I mean, for me, again, I knew Latin. I feel like I’m Western or something like that. But ultimately, it’s not… I think a lot of people almost like strawman people who convert to Orthodoxy as if we don’t like Western stuff.

I mean, the fact is… I mean, let me just step back and say I don’t have anything to say about Roman Catholics in general. I think a lot of them, obviously, you know, their faith is… it preserves… if we are Orthodox and we believe the Orthodox True Church is true, they are preserving a lot of the Christian faith.

But my perspective is I was in a position where, okay, I’m looking for truth, and I don’t want to settle for even 99% truth if I can have 100%.

Yeah, and I think in the Roman Catholic Church, again, you know, I did read a lot of Aquinas, and I read a lot of… I liked Roger Bacon’s works randomly. I liked a lot of that stuff. I just gravitated to it. It was… it almost felt like, you know, untapped knowledge after all of these years.

And you know, reading the stuff in Latin is really fun. But I think the fact of the matter is, you know, just historically, the Roman Church… it erred. It… the papacy is not… I mean, let me… well, there are two sides there. They might be historically wrong, but at the same time today, I think there are kind of moral issues.

Like if you raise your children up in the Roman Catholic Church, you are not giving them as solid of a foundation as they would have in the Orthodox Church, even if there were no different sacramentally between the two. I think that’s important.

But obviously, the historical claim and this moral claim, I think they’re the same thing. I mean, Christ is going to preserve His Church, you know, no matter what.

Now, what I would say specifically to, let’s say, the claims of the Roman Catholic… let’s say the papacy, okay? Is the papacy a real thing? No, it’s not. And I would say, like, you really read… let me give you an example.

So on my book republishing site, one of the books that I republish is Isidore of Seville’s 20 books of etymologies, okay? And it’s written in Latin. He’s an impeccably Western saint. Now, he’s a saint in the Orthodox Church. He was writing in the 600s or something like that. He’s a saint in the Roman Catholic Church as well.

He’s in the West. He’s in Spain. He is, you know, obviously, he’s under the patriarch of Rome. He’s very Western. In fact, he’s even a… many people of that period, he just assumed in the West we use the filioque, I guess. It’s always been in the Creed, right?

Lots of people thought that at that period. Nonetheless, here’s just a good example. His books were used as textbooks throughout all of Western Europe for hundreds of years. They were like… because the 20 books of etymologies, they go over mathematics, they go over astronomy, they go over everything about Christianity and other religions as well.

They go through God, the angels, the offices, the liturgical offices of the church, and also the positions in the church. He goes into excruciating detail. He’ll tell you what a psalmist, an elector, a reader, a door holder, what all these people do in the church, what a presbyter is.

And then he gets to the bishops, and he says bishops, they’re in four different parts. There are normal bishops, there are archbishops, there are metropolitans, there are patriarchs. He explains all of them. He explains the ecumenical council and the whole… but would you guess it? He forgot to mention the pope.

He forgot to mention that the most important office of the church that Christ built His entire church on, he just totally forgot to mention it. And this is the text… I can’t believe it! What an oversight! It’s an oversight that is the textbook that everyone in the West, in Latin, under the patriarch of Rome was using for hundreds of years, and there’s no talk of a pope.

He talks about the patriarchs. He says the patriarch of Rome, of Antioch, of Alexandria. Of course, there clearly is a bishop of Rome, and obviously, he was first in the diptych, you know, according to many sources as well.

But the reality is the Vatican I idea of like a universal papal jurisdiction is absolutely non-existent. And I think like there’s not even a word for pope. You can’t even look it up. Like, I mean, the word papa in Latin or, you know, in Greek, the Greek equivalent, like it was used as a general term for any… like a father. That’s what it means, you know, for a priest.

And if you would ask someone of that period, “Who is the pope? Who is the papa?” He would say, “Oh, that’s the bishop of Alexandria.” Because the term that word that much later is used for the bishop of Rome was specifically… often the bishop of Alexandria was conventionally referred to as, you know, the papa, right?

And I guess what I’m trying to get at is if you look at these original documents in their original context, there’s no such thing remotely close to the papacy. And in fact, even… I mean, to make it even worse, think about something like the Donation of Constantine, right?

So as people know, it’s… everyone admits, including Roman Catholics, it’s a fraudulent document that people in the West invented to elevate the status of the papacy. Where in this story, Emperor Constantine goes to the pope of Rome and says a couple of things. He says, “I am giving you jurisdiction, temporal jurisdiction of the whole Western Roman Empire, and I’m also setting you ahead of the bishop. You are the head of the whole church ahead of Antioch and Jerusalem and Alexandria and Constantinople.”

Right? So that’s not even co… now, that’s a forgery. We all know that that’s fake. But even that is not consistent with Vatican I Catholicism because Vatican I Catholicism has this idea that the pope of Rome, he was number one since day one.

Yeah, you know, Peter always had this authority. But even the fake documents they made up in history did not have that assumption. They had the assumption that the authority of the pope of Rome came from… I guess they were Cesaro-papists. They came from, you know, the emperor Constantine.

So I don’t want to belabor, you know, obviously none of this is, you know, me trying to offend Roman Catholics because, you know, I have lots of Roman Catholic friends who are very pious. They really are seeking Christ. And, you know, I have normie friends who are Roman Catholic.

And so I don’t want to shake anyone up, but the reality is I think this fundamentally what separates the Roman Catholic Church from Orthodoxy is lies and distortion on their part. And that doesn’t mean that everyone’s responsible for them. It doesn’t mean, you know, that there aren’t many people who are genuinely seeking Christ.

But I think, you know, God’s grace over the centuries, I think has just lessened and lessened in, you know, the Roman Church. And you know, very quickly, I think if you really… a lot of you might be familiar with Father Seraphim Rose, his Orthodox Survival Guide. Have you read that or seen that?

No, I have it, but I haven’t read it yet.

Okay, yeah, just… I would… there’s an audio recording as well for those of you who are lazy about reading. But just the first couple chapters are really good about the immediate change in piety after the Great Schism, where suddenly in the West you have histrionic saints. You have these people having delusions of, you know, like he goes through some of the lives of saints in the West and just how kind of quickly and radically they changed.

Yeah, and you know, again, I don’t say this because I wanted… I, you know, Roman Catholics… and this isn’t even to talk about what the Catholic Church is doing now. Now, obviously, you know, I don’t want to speak ill about, you know, Pope Francis, who apparently is very ill right now.

But the reality is the modern Catholic Church since Vatican II has really gone wild. And it’s not even… I am not even speaking about that modern Catholic Church, which really is at war with all of the SSPX and all these guys who want to keep, you know, their traditional faith.

And I think the place for them ultimately is just in the Orthodox Church. I mean, that’s that. And you don’t have to live in that world. You don’t have to live in this world of, you know, we’re kind of talking apologetics right now.

But, you know, when I guess figured out that Orthodoxy was the truth, suddenly the need for apologetics just… I’m just not interested for the most part, you know? Like when people come to our parish and talk about it, that’s the first thing. “Oh, you’re over that. You don’t need to worry about that now.”

Yeah, you know, now you can like kind of seek God without distractions. And for those of you in the Roman Catholic world who, you know, are seeing things go in your church, you know, ultimately your church is Orthodoxy. You know, that is the place you need to be.

And, you know, there are many… if you are so emotionally connected to West right parishes, they’re there. You can go. And of course, if the people at your parish, if you’re SSPX or anywhere else, there are Orthodox bishops who many times receive full congregations.

Like there are many West who have been received from Roman… I actually don’t know about Roman Catholics, but I know near where I live, there are many Anglicans that convert en masse. And I think it would be a great thing. Like all these… I see in the Catholic world, you know, Cardinal Vigano, all these kind of guys who are saying a lot of true and good things.

It’s like, you guys, you should be on our side. Like you saying the same things that we’re saying, you know? Like, so there’s no need for enmity. Like we should be united in Christ. But the reality is we’re not right now, you know?

I don’t… obviously, all the things that we could say about, oh, the Romans did this, that is not imputing any sin on someone who grows up in Roman Catholicism. And I have no ill feeling. But just don’t be too emotionally connected to what you grew up with, you know? Ultimately, it’s not about being Eastern or Western or Catholic or Protestant. It’s about going where Christ is.

And I’m not Orthodox because I like Byzantine Rite. I’m not Orthodox because, you know, I just… I don’t know. I like Orthodox chants or something. I’m Orthodox because it’s the truth. You know, that’s where the truth led.

And I think it’d be cool to have, you know, more of a representation of the cultural side of the West. But you know, if the Orthodox Church were all in Chinese and that’s the only option, then I would be there, you know? I would… wherever it is, you know?

And I don’t know. I don’t want to belabor the point, but if you make the… if you say that people shouldn’t… they should stick with kind of the flavor they have, you know, why not say that about Muslims? You know, like why not say that? Obviously, this is ridiculous. I want people to be united to the church, and I want us all to be together.

And like the only condition for that is, you know, just Orthodox belief and practice and union and communion with the church, you know?

And it’s not… yeah, anyway, I experienced all of that because I wasn’t raised with a religion, and I was really interested in Christianity kind of like from a political angle. And then I was just trying to understand the different… I didn’t know about the different denominations, and I just started like going to a local church because it’s like, “Oh, this is Christian.”

But it just felt off. It was like a Presbyterian church. And then when I found out about Catholicism, I’m like, “Wow, this is way more historically rooted. There’s way more tradition and structure, and you’re going to have a much deeper theology.”

But I had no idea about Orthodoxy at the time. And you know, Catholicism, I’m glad that most of the things that I learned, like, you know, they believe in the real presence in the Eucharist or they confess that it is. And like these things, like I didn’t learn a bunch of weird stuff.

But then as I got deeper and deeper into it, I’m like, “Why are all the traditional people going to Eastern Catholic and traditional Latin Mass parishes? What’s Vatican II?” And then when I learned about Vatican II, I’m like, “Well, this is clearly contradicting what happened before.”

Like saying, you know, Muslims worship the same God and now Orthodox are not schismatic; they’re the other lung of the church, and they still make saints and they have the Eucharist. And it’s like, “Wait, what the heck?”

And then just seeing the actions of the popes of the past 60 years, especially like John Paul II, who’s like embracing false religions and kissing the Quran. It’s like, this is very, very different spirituality from medieval Catholicism.

And then it kind of leads you into that either SSPX, like recognize and resist, or sedevacantism. But once you read Vatican I, you’re like, “The pope can’t be a heretic. There’s going to be a perpetual office until the end.”

So it’s either sedevacantism, which is a mental gymnastic, and just it contradicts the entire system, or maybe the Catholic Church isn’t the church. And then you start looking at Orthodoxy, and it’s like they haven’t messed up their liturgy. They have a very reverent liturgy. They haven’t destroyed all their own traditions.

And sadly, the Catholic Church has.

Yeah, I think one of the best proofs as well for, you know, the spirit of Christ being with the Orthodox Church is who do we canonize as saints? You know?

Look at the Roman Catholic Church. I mean, you mentioned Pope John Paul II. You know, he obviously did a lot of questionable ecumenical things, yet the Roman Catholic Church, he’s a saint under their definition.

In fact, the Roman Catholic Church has a tendency in the modern world to take its most liberal members and make them saints. These are saints, you know? Whereas in the Orthodox Church, we could say in the Orthodox Church, “Oh, look at this bishop. He said something questionable.”

But who gets canonized as a saint? Who does the church, as one mind, view as a saint? And it is universally the people who keep to the faith strongest, you know?

And we have such a plethora of modern saints that, you know, speak to today. And like we never have to be embarrassed. I mean, I feel so bad for Catholics because everything the pope or these recent popes have said, you have to be embarrassed of that. You have to feel like, “Oh, I don’t want to hear this.”

You know, where you read a modern Orthodox saint, and it’s like, “Whoa, this stuff is… it’s so good.” In fact, it’s so bright sometimes I can’t handle it, you know?

And that, I think, is the best evidence because I think the Orthodox Church, you know, we have political issues sometimes. We have lots of ups and downs. But the truth is, the Church of Christ is still producing great fruit.

And I can’t necessarily… again, I’m not going to say that the Roman Catholics, it’s all bad fruit. But look at who they’re canonizing. Look at, you know, if you look at that and compare it to what’s happening in the Orthodox world.

I think that is a very strong testament.

Yeah, just to name a few, like St. Paisios, reading his writings, it’s against the spirit of the age. The spirit of like not like a humanism, but also like this false syncretism with other religions is the religion of the Antichrist.

And St. John Maximovich, his life is amazing, and all the miracles associated with him. I recommend reading about St. John. And Father Seraphim Rose will probably be canonized a saint. And also Elder Ephraim, he started multiple… like I think like 17 monasteries in America.

Like just, I mean, it’s truly terrific. And reading their writings, like it’s really… it’s like reading the early Christians. That spirit still lives in Orthodoxy, and that’s who they’re canonizing as saints.

So, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

So my next question: someone said, “I would love for Luke Smith to become a writer and write a few books. Would you ever write a book? Have you ever thought about that?” I know you have your own press, the Lindy Press.

So I have always wanted to write a book. I’m a terrible writer. I can put together blog posts, but I think you people watching this conversation who have never seen me before might see that my mind is going all over the place. I sometimes forget strands. You know, it actually is… you know, I have multi-dimensional thought. It’s sometimes very hard to sit and write out.

But there is kind of accidentally a book that I’m working on. It almost started as lecture notes. Okay? A year or maybe two ago, I got really interested in… and this is very… I guess my central question was, “How did things get so bad in the English-speaking world religiously speaking? Why is it that we have… where does denominationalism really come from?”

So I became really interested, I guess, in kind of the history of, let’s say, how the Reformation happened specifically in the English-speaking world. Not… the Reformation actually… I mean, let’s look at one thing that people say about Protestants all the time: “Oh, Protestants, they have 40,000 different denominations. They have sola scriptura, and they just diversify all over the place.”

Well, the fact of the matter is that’s actually less the case in like Lutheran countries. Like you don’t really see this as much in Germany. You don’t see it… like you go to Norway or Sweden; they just have the Lutheran Church there.

It really is only in the English-speaking world you have this radical variance. So what I actually ended up starting to write is kind of an Orthodox history of the English Reformation. And I don’t know how many pages I have now, but I honestly just kind of pick it up, work on it.

I’ve been reading a lot of books, a lot of history books, and a lot of other little things. But ultimately, you know, my contention is like there… there’s kind of a lack of… the fact is if you’re Orthodox, it’s almost like you have to be an alternate history guy. You have to read everything from a different angle because the truth is, especially on the Reformation in English, nearly everything is pro-Protestant, obviously.

But the stuff that’s pro-Catholic is like not even 100% pro-Catholic, and they don’t… they almost like miss the important points from my perspective. So I started writing a history kind of of this period. And that actually, I think it might eventually turn into a book.

But I’m writing it as if it’s lecture notes. I’m writing it as if I’m presenting it casually to a bunch of guys because it’s like if I really… I don’t want to make it too dense, let’s just say that. And really, my focus is not… I actually do not care about history at all.

Like, well, I don’t want to say at all, but as a discipline itself, I don’t care about. But what I do care about is like how all of these events in English history had massive moral implications. They had massive implications for the faith.

Like, you know, just in and out. I mean, just to give you an example, so you know, the re… what really caused England to be a Protestant country, it’s not King Henry VIII himself. It’s not his little marital issues. They could have been solved in another way.

What really caused the Protestantization of England is the fact that at the time… so let’s look at Catholic England. By different estimates, somewhere, you know, between an eighth to a sixth of the land in all of England and maybe Scotland as well was monastic land. It was owned by the church, right?

And church land is kind of public property. People would often graze on it. They would… you know, there weren’t hotels back then. If you’re traveling, you would go to a monastery, and you might stay there. You might give a little, you know, donation. But they provided a very important public service.

And of course, the religious aspect… imagine living in a country where a sixth of the land is monastic land, okay? Now, King Henry VIII, as people will say, King Henry VII… he didn’t want to… he was a loyal Catholic. He didn’t want to become… and it is true he wrote actually defenses of the Catholicism, things that we would agree with, you know, for the most part, against Protestants before actually his schism from Rome.

But what happened after his schism from Rome is something he did. Something very egregious that affected the world much… I don’t know, much more crucially than people might think. And that is he decided to confiscate all monasteries and destroy every single one of them on the entire British Isles, right?

Or at least all that he could. And it’s important to remember, like, the Soviets didn’t do this. The Turks didn’t do this. But King Henry VIII actually went through… first, they started with the small monasteries. They would take every single month; they would seize the property.

And what he ultimately did is he sold the property to lesser aristocracy. And so what happens is now a sixth of the land in the country is sold off to basically the highest bidder. Now the king has all these allies who are not just his political allies; they’ve actually gotten this land.

Henry VIII didn’t actually sell them at good prices for himself. He made a little money, but for the most part, these people are making killings. They’re becoming rich off of this monastic land. So when the question of reestablishing communion with Rome comes, what does this aristocratic new aristocracy in England want to do?

Do they want Catholicism in England? No, they are now militant Protestants because they have a massive financial interest to do this. And if you go point by point, actually in English history, it’s interesting how much… almost like… and again, this is a point where, as I was saying, there’s kind of commonalities.

Obviously, if you look really at the Protestant Reformation, we nearly always are going to be on the Catholic side because they are fighting… there are so many things. I don’t think people even realize, like the desecration, the demonic stuff that many in all over these Protestant countries, the kind of mass destruction of churches.

You know, like we look at… you know, you go to a church in England now, and of course, there’s not going to be iconography or statues because there was a period in time where all of this was destroyed. We, in fact, the Puritans would even like keep a gauge of what things they destroyed in each church.

You know, like we… we look at, you know, the desecration of the churches, and they recorded this stuff with relish. But either way, what I was going to say is, obviously, Henry VIII creates this totally re-engineered English society.

Again, monasteries provided a public good. They were kind of public land. People used them as hotels, and obviously, they were praying for the entire country. And now the essence of the faith, like it’s important to remember, like we might not go to monasteries every week or something like that, but they are extremely important because they keep… they are, you know, any church is supposed to be a mirror of the liturgy in heaven.

But a monastery is a lot closer because they do the daily prayer hours. They do, you know, all the liturgies they can. They do everything. They are the model for our lay parishes. And even, you know, we as individuals, ideally, would that we could, you know, pray all the hours every day, you know?

So either way, what happens here is, again, King Henry VIII, in terms of belief, he might say, “Oh, yeah, I believe in the Eucharist and all this kind of stuff.” But what he ended up doing, he really set the ball rolling for a radical reformation in England that created an entrenched Protestant aristocracy immediately.

And again, the core of the faith, the monastic core, there… no longer could people go to the major monasteries. A lot of them were shut down bloodily. There were many monks who were killed by King Henry VIII when they refused to give up their monasteries.

But I mean, obviously, to this day, we still read the Canterbury Tales about people making pilgrimage to, you know, the can… to Canterbury, which, you know, goes back to, you know, St. Augustine of Canterbury, right?

Or, you know, there are legends that are even older. But either way, you know, this is such… it’s hard to imagine what this means. But there’s so much of our history as, you know, English or, you know, British people widely that has just been totally taken out of our faith.

And you know, either way, the… again, my goal was to kind of understand how this has actually affected our society. Going point by point, I go through the English Civil War, which really was a war between an… and Presbyterians, like Calvinists. The bad guys won, and they killed the king and made the… I either way.

That’s one of the books I’m working on now. That might not be what… I don’t think many people were like, “I really want Luke Smith to write a book about the English Reformation.” I’m going to guess my subscribers are not actually thinking about that.

So aside from that, I think the issue is I’m open to writing other books. But again, like I am very much all over the place. I really… what I’d really like, I’d really like to just have a little institute and have little lecture courses and stuff like that. That would be easier.

But the… you know, if I can order my thoughts in a way, I might just publish books that are a collection of my own essays or something like that. That might be the best I can. But this little project of mine on the English Reformation is kind of the most coherent thing I have so far. So it might be that.

That might just be notes for myself that I circulate around friends or I put out the talking points. It might be like an actual book, you know, in a little bit. So we’ll see where that is.

So that sounds awesome. That’s an answer to the question that is very… maybe an unexpected answer. But yeah, I think there is a need for that. You’re right, is that what people are reading in English, it’s going to be from a Catholic or mainly Protestant perspective.

And so having English Orthodox writings on these issues, it’s like, yeah, there is a different way to tell history. It’s like everyone, you know, has their bias.

Yeah, a lot of things will become clear suddenly. It’s like you look at things in the Orthodox perspective, and they all make sense all of a sudden. It’s funny.

So yeah, I work a little bit on that every day. I might write a couple sentences and string together a little bit. But I’ve been busy recently, so yeah, that’s the actual book that I’m doing right now.

Awesome. I guess kind of leading into the next question, someone said, “Luke, please bring back the Not Related podcast.” So is this going to be the next thing? Maybe this more kind of lectures on different issues?

I mean, kind of like your YouTube channel already, but would you continue making episodes on Not Related?

The thing with the podcast is like I don’t want to adulterate the POS podcast with bad episodes. Like I’m never going to force… you know, it’s almost like I could just leave it there, and it just feels almost perfect. Not entirely perfect; there are a couple things I might change.

But you know, I think all the stuff I do, I do to get the ideas out there. And sometimes the medium is better to have it in a podcast; sometimes a video is better; sometimes a blog is better. Like, that’s just kind of how I work.

Maybe a book is better for some things. So I think with the podcast as well, like I’m not going to have like a big long… I’m not going to do Not Related season three on the English Reformation. We’re not going to do that.

But you know, because usually I do individual episodes, and I always try to do them on things that like, you know, aren’t a dime a dozen. You can’t just like look it up. And like, you know, every once in a while, an idea will come to my head. I thought about doing an episode on the glass bead game, and I thought about doing… I actually thought about doing an episode on Ray Peat stuff.

But I don’t know. I can’t guarantee I’m going to have more episodes of that. Well, I don’t… it’s not closed off, but you never know, you know?

Yeah, I recommend that if people aren’t familiar with it, go on his website and listen to, watch, and read the episodes. They’re really good.

Actually, one of the comments was… I think this was a Not Related episode. Someone, they were Greek or they are Greek, and they said they started watching you because of Linux and tech-related topics, and they were a pretty nasty type of atheist.

But you made a video on the logos in Christianity, and that kind of got him on a path to reconsider God. And that was actually one of the first videos I saw from you, and I really enjoyed that video. Just that research, I would love to see more content on the logos.

Yeah, yeah, that was an interesting episode because like I barely weighed into the topic. Like the reality is there is so much in kind of, obviously, the Orthodox Church, like the kind of hardcore philosophy of the church.

And it’s also interesting to see how it even influenced… it really Christianized pagans in a way. Like, you know, paganism became a lot more monotheistic. It became a lot… you know, people started talking about the monad, and they started talking about trinities and, you know, the logos and all this kind of stuff a lot more often when, you know, they contacted, let’s say, Christianity.

And I think, you know, the unfortunate fact is religion is put in such a way nowadays where we are scoped into thinking this is… oh, there’s rational stuff, and then there’s religion, and this is for… it’s for your grandma. It’s for your emotional people who do Pentecostal stuff.

And no, like, I mean, in truth, there is no difference between religion and the rest of science, you know? It might be a domain where we can’t do active experiments or something like that.

But I think once people realize that, you know, religion is something serious, and especially if, you know, many people have said, you know, they grew up Orthodox, and you know, that just… they don’t take it seriously until they really see this kind of stuff.

They only see the superficial aspects. And let’s just remind ourselves, I’m not saying that religion has to be intellectual. In fact, it kind of shouldn’t because really God, you know, God has given us Orthodoxy, and it is a religion that is accessible to people of every IQ level.

You know, the simplest people can… are elevated by it, and the most intelligent people are elevated by it. That’s kind of the point. It’s almost as if it’s for our salvation; it’s for our benefit.

And it’s not… you know, growing up… if you grow up in low-church Protestantism, you might have the idea that religion is just for simple people; they’re emotional, blah, blah, blah. And that is just not the case in Orthodoxy.

It is for everyone, and it is different for everyone. Like, you know, my priest always describes Orthodoxy as like a buffet, and you can never ever eat enough of this buffet. You just have to be able to, like, pick something that is going to be good for you.

You have to be careful; you don’t want to waste your time. You know, you want to get the stuff that’s good for you that’s meant for you. But there’s just so much more than an individual could eat up.

And the other fact is, like, I would love to do more episodes like that, but I have to do some hardcore reading at this point. Actually, where I am right now, you know, I’m not at home. I don’t have easy access to my library and, you know, books and stuff like that.

But once I can get my hands on some things, I really want to do more, I guess, study into that kind of stuff. But, you know, I don’t want to make it a distraction. But there’s other stuff I have to do.

But, you know, yeah, I’m glad to hear that. I know that that episode had a lot of impact on people. And I’m glad because if, as well, you know, those podcast episodes, like I always do the stuff on my channel as if it’s for everyone, as if I’m talking… actually, I kind of assume most people watching my channel are atheists.

It’s actually not the case. I see, and I realized when I started doing live streams, everyone wants to talk about Orthodoxy. I don’t know what… you know, I’ve barely done a video on it.

That’s how it is. That’s what people are seeking, you know?

Yeah, definitely. Well, I think, you know, people are seeking the truth, and, you know, Orthodoxy is the truth, so it just happens.

But what you’re saying is, you know, a great thing about Orthodoxy is that we have all different types of saints that you can connect with. We have philosophers who are saints; we have fools for Christ; we have, you know, warriors, kings. I mean, there’s all these different types of saints.

And that’s what’s great is it is for everyone.

My next question is actually someone who’s a little bit of a hater, but I think it was an interesting question. They said, “Luke is easily the top 1% intellectually. What does he now do with it, living an impotent life as an Orthodox larper in a village? How did he come up with this incredible plan? Did they visit and intimidate him after he posted too much problematic wrong thing content? Same story as Ro V when he wanted to organize offline with other revolutionary-minded men. What a waste, in my opinion. This is just as sinful as when the average Joe wastes his life playing video games.”

Yeah, well, I don’t like being described as revolutionary. I think that’s… I’m very insulted by that. Um, I think people saying stuff like that… We live in a world of an evil system. Like, there really is an evil system in the world, and I think people like that, they almost assume that you have to attack the system directly. You know, you got to be out there, you got to be a political agitator, you got to do this, that, the other. Um, and I think that’s wrong. I think really the system lures you into doing that.

Now, firstly, I will proudly live in a village. That’s my goal. I don’t want, you know, like the TR, and it’s not even living in a village; it’s just that’s normal human life. Like, it’s really the norm. People who think they’re in the system, “I’m going to make a difference, I’m going to have a big job,” and I’m going to, you know… I’ve had friends who said, “Well, friends, I had this for a while where I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m going to… once I finish my PhD and I get tenure, then I’ll be able to make a dent on the system,’ and blah, blah, blah.” And that’s kind of delusional. That’s the wrong strategy to have.

I’m not saying that you can’t have any effect from inside the system, but I think it’s best for everyone’s salvation if you are creating something better than that. I’m not interested in sending my kids to public school and Normy society and having them use apps for whatever. I just don’t want that. I don’t want them to have to fight the battles that I fought, you know what I mean?

So, I’m definitely not retreating from the world. Yes, I haven’t done videos in a while, but the reason I haven’t is my own business. You know, it’s not… You know, people will make up… I mean, this comment I think is not even like kind of a hate comment or that negative. I think, you know, I think he just wants me to be back, and that’s… I’m flattered.

But that’s not exactly how it is. Life is complex, and you know, I’m trying to do the best I can. The fact is, a lot of the stuff I have said, I don’t want to be on YouTube until I’m 70 doing the same videos over and over again, telling you to, you know, divest from the system, be your own man, blah, blah, blah. At some point, you have to actually do what I’m saying, you know, like to make it useful.

Frankly, I’m just… I have so many hours of me talking on the internet; I think that is enough. Now, I will, as I said, be releasing more videos because I have more things to say. But, you know, I… and again, I’m not attacking the system. I think that comment kind of assumes that we should just almost like attack the devil directly. In fact, we are not supposed to fight these celestial battles ourselves. We have to focus on our own salvation, on our own lives.

If we don’t do that, if no one does that, we don’t have a future. Once we win, once things go right in a political direction or something like that, we’re not going to know what to do if we’re so invested in the system. If we don’t know how we’re supposed to act, and if we don’t know the true alternative.

But, yeah, so that’s my response to that kind of thing.

No, I think that’s a really good response. It’s just focusing on an alternative and building something really good. People are so used to just this endless amount of content, like, just, oh, just, you know, all this stuff, all this information. But it’s like you’re being more thoughtful about what you’re going to put out there. Like, is there something actually unique and that’s worth sharing, or am I just saying the same thing? I mean, you already have so many great videos. If they’re looking for the content that you’ve already made, it’s clear what to do.

Yeah, yeah. So, one of the last questions is someone says, “I have a question. When you mention traditional Orthodox societies where people live life, leisure, work, and daily prayer, what place, country are you referring to? It’s a genuine question.”

Sure, the only Orthodox countries I can recall are the ones I would rather not live compared to where I currently live, or are they societies from the past? Well, I guess the truest answer is heaven. I mean, the reality is, actually, you know, I was talking about the English Reformation, and one of the things that did happen during this period is all of society is restructured in a way towards commerce.

You know, the public lands on the monastery… you can’t have your sheep on the monastery lands anymore. Everything is becoming collectivized; it’s all for production, it’s all for economies of scale. You had the enclosures controversy where people built fences all over everything. What really you have is a virus that has infected most of the world.

Now, there are many… I mean, you can go actually even to very secular European countries, be that Orthodox or even Catholic countries, and you will have people who will, you know, have a siesta, which really historically was corresponding to prayer hours and stuff like that. There is a natural breathing of that daily cycle. But the fact is, I don’t think there’s a… there’s no place right now I can think of that I could be like, “You can take your children here right now and raise them, and it’s going to be perfect.”

This world is something that… it’s not so much that we have to recreate it, but we have to separate ourselves from the virus. I think that is the issue. The truth is, humans, like, you know, God created us to survive and thrive in a very specific kind of lifestyle—a small village or, you know, a town. You can live in a town; I’m not knocking that. But a place where your society is comprehensible to you, and you live life with a lot of leisure. You have a lot more free time than usual.

So, am I going to say that, uh, Russia or whatever, you know, is the perfect place? No, absolutely not. In fact, nearly every Orthodox country culturally has, even if they haven’t been infected by the virus of modern wage slavdom and this, you know, kind of Western economy, they have lived under Muslim rule. They live in many… of course, Christians in the Middle East live in a culture that is not fully their own. They live in isolated places; they have small segments of that society that are actually very close to how they used to be, where you have a leisurely life, you have close communal environments.

But, uh, I can’t give a full-throated endorsement to any specific place. So, the truth is, again, it’s not something we have to rebuild, but it’s something when you separate yourselves from a life, this kind of modern rat race, you will actually find that you have time for everything that you kind of want to do and you’re meant to do, like you’re created to do.

And, um, the church ultimately… it’s important to remember, like, our liturgical calendar. I mean, our calendar should be the liturgical calendar. Humans need periods of fasting; they need periods of reflection and feasting and all this kind of stuff. And that ultimately is the standard of how human society should work. It’s there for us; it’s given to us by the apostles and developed in the church, you know, with the saint days and all this kind of stuff.

So, that’s what I would say. The nice… I guess the negative side of that is I can’t say that utopia is right there in some Eastern European country or something like that. But at the same time, it is accessible to us. Like, it is a world that we can make that God has given us the blueprint for.

And, um, we are in… you know, I also wanted to say this to kind of the last comment: we are in such a blessed time because we have… I mean, the internet can be a terrible thing, but at the same time, it can be such a wonderful tool for, you know, for making passive income, for separating yourselves, like not making yourself beholden to the world in a way. You can… you know, there are many things that you can do.

You know, I have lots of friends who are Orthodox and work from home, and like they have much… the only thing lacking is people being in the same place, right? That’s really what you need. You really need a community where people can raise children together and all that kind of stuff.

So, yeah, um, that’s my answer to the question. If you’re looking to pack your bags, I can’t give you a place, but at the same time, like, the news is even better. Like, we can have that; we have the blueprint for it. And it’s not… it’s not alarm. Like, it’s important for people to remember this isn’t alarm.

This is humans. Like, the modern world gives, like, the 40-hour work week. That is a stressor that we need to remove. Public education, where children are, you know, diagnosed with mental diseases because they don’t want to sit for hours, you know, at their desk, like, that is an absurdity. It’s an absurdity that we have, you know, BS jobs. One of my podcast episodes on that is the thing that… that is the… if you just took that away, if you… and mind you, this is not something that we… oh, we have to take a revolution, overthrow the government, blah, blah, blah. No, this is something you can actually do yourself.

Like, this is… you can make the decision to not participate. You can make the decision to divest. You can… every choice you get, move more in that direction, and things will open up a lot quicker than you might assume. That’s what I would say.

Yeah, definitely. You just have to be working towards it, and it may not always… it may not be easy, but it’s just… we’re trying to work towards something better for our…

Yeah, and remember, like… oh, thinking about theology and thinking about, “Oh, should I be Roman Catholic or Orthodox?” These are hard decisions, but make them the right way so your children won’t have to make them.

Yeah, make the right decisions about how you want your life oriented, where you’re going to live, you know, what kind of… oh, you’re going to go into debt to get something you don’t need? Are you going to cut things down and, you know, live on a little less? Like, make those decisions now so when your children are in the position to make those decisions, they now have a blueprint, and it’s easier for them to make those decisions, you know?

So, definitely, the last question is someone says, “Is it a good idea to invest time into learning to use free open-source software like Arch Linux? I wonder if your view has changed in the past two years.”

I think it’s… that’s a person-by-person… I’m not going to say everyone should do that. I think that, um, I would say this: I never sat down to learn how to use Linux or something like that. I never was like, “I’m going to teach myself, I’m going to watch some internet course,” blah, blah, blah.

But, uh, the thing is, when you have a leisurely life or where you create a leisurely life… I was working a job and doing all this kind of stuff, but when you, you know, separate yourselves from all your vices and, you know, watching questionable things on the internet and all this kind of stuff, or playing video games all the time, you are going to realize that, oh, I actually have a lot of time to tinker and play around and learn.

And, um, I think that might draw you to Linux, and that can be a fantastic way of making money. To learn systems administration and programming, that kind of stuff can give you a lot of skills, even if you are not employed for those kinds of things. But that could also be said about other things, other kinds of practical skills.

The nice thing about computers, you have to remember, is like, unlike being a workman, you know, you don’t have to pay the… um, you know, if you’re a carpenter, you have to buy wood. If you’re a computer programmer, you don’t have to buy a code, you know what I mean? You don’t have to buy lines of code; you can write infinite, you know what I mean? So, there’s kind of a free entry cost.

So, I think if you are intellectually inclined, if you like that kind of stuff, um, if you feel a pull in that direction, I would consider it. I wouldn’t invest there. My, you know, my goal, or maybe not my goal, I think my way of looking at life… and this is… I remember actually I had an acquaintance in high school who said this awful thing.

Actually, this person is a minor celebrity. I don’t know; I’m not going to… probably minor than me, someone in, um, uh, someone in politics, actually. But, okay, it doesn’t matter. No, you’ve never heard of this person. Okay, someone might have, but I don’t want to say their name because I don’t want to… I don’t want to tell them that they know Luke Smith. But either way, this person said something awful and was like, “I like to have every single day filled up. All my schedule should be filled with stuff, you know? Like, every single day, I like to be busy. I like to get work done.”

And that is so awful. It’s not just soul-crushing. Yeah, when you really get things done or to really get things done… if you plan every moment of your life, it’s only going to be as good as you plan it.

Yeah, what happens if you give yourself free time? As I did, you know, back when I was in grad school and I was like, “Well, you know, maybe I’m going to take some time for me and start looking at this Linux stuff.” I realized there’s a whole world that I could play around with. I could tinker; I could learn a little bit more.

And, um, you know, that was such an asset to me. I want to say, like, one of the most important years of my life… I was thinking about this the other day… was actually the year 2018. This is just an example.

In 2018, I had already started my YouTube channel; it was very small, but I was moving away from my PhD program, and I ended up moving to the random town of Statesboro, Georgia. Okay? And I just lived there a year. I had no job there. Well, I eventually got a job as a carpenter there, but for a while, I didn’t really have any job. I had no… I was living in a place that cost like $200, $300 maybe. That’s the only reason I moved there; it was cheap. I could live there without a car. That’s all I wanted. I just wanted some time to clear my head.

And that was a period I sat down; I didn’t fall into vices. I didn’t start playing video games all the time or something like that. And, uh, I started going to the university library, started hanging out, started tinkering with things. That is when I started my podcast. I started really doing YouTube videos. I would do like a video a day or something like that on, like, you know, not trivial stuff. You know, they’d be important, kind of conceptual things. I did a huge amount of reading. That’s when I was, like, getting back into church as well. I was reading this, you know, some scholastic stuff I mentioned before.

But, you know, I just… when I gave myself some free time, everything opened up. All the stuff, you know, all this goodness came upon me, you know? I was just kind of… and that’s kind of what I suggest to other people. I think, um, have free time, but don’t waste it. Do not waste it on Netflix, not video games. People say I always knock video games, and I’m not saying 100% they’re always demonic; they’re just mostly demonic because they’re mostly just wasting that.

And I look back and think about this: if I had been playing a video game in 2018, you wouldn’t know about my YouTube channel. Yeah, that guy who said, “Oh, you got me back into church,” he would still be cursing God or something like… or maybe I don’t want to say it was all because of me, but based on what he said, you know, like, um, there would be so much… and just think about that. That’s just me; that’s one period in my life.

Now think about what you can do. Think about what the people listening… like, when you… again, this is what we started off our discussion on. When you really open yourself up to what God created you to be, you know, and the possibilities that He gave you, um, and that He gives all of us, when you really are kind of open to that and you’re honestly seeking it, you’re going to see that they’re all over the place. There’s so much to do; there’s so much creation to do. There’s such a positive impact that you can have on everything.

And, um, that is the danger of being distracted by the world. And that could mean… that could mean Netflix; that could mean having a job that’s too invasive, even if it makes a lot of money, you know? So, um, when you get rid of those things, when you kind of tamper your vices, you kind of ignore… you put yourself in a new position.

Um, and again, this isn’t to say, “Oh, this is amazing for me,” but I’m just reporting to you. You know, my YouTube channel would not be the same. It would be… you know, it made a lot of difference. I made the podcast and all this kind of stuff.

Yeah, and this is just a little part of my life. I guarantee you, you can do better, whoever you are watching this. You can do so much more, you know? Just cooperate with God. I, again, this was a period where I was finally opening back up to God because He really rubbed my nose in it for certain things. But, um, you know, that’s how it is, and it’s exciting. It really is exciting.

And, you know, I’m doing great things in my life now, but sometimes I look back to that period like, you know, that was fun. I woke up every day, read books I’d never heard about, and, um, you know, made a podcast. You know, that was nice.

Yeah, no, I 100% agree. And that was my experience too. It’s like, you know, I played so much video games, like, elementary school, middle school, high school, and you look up, you know, I got like a thousand hours in Counter-Strike, 2,000 hours in Rust, and it’s like, imagine if I had been studying, learning a skill, um, you know, working out, volunteering, or getting involved in, like, my community.

I would… I’d be an expert. I like… I… and I’m so glad that in college I’m like, “I’m going to be a minister.” You know, I got rid of my gaming computer. You know, not everyone needs… you don’t need to take, like, extreme steps. You know, everyone’s different. But I wanted to just focus on doing productive things, and that’s when I started, um, you know, learning a lot about theology and church history, and then also learning the video editing.

I learned how to edit videos by just practicing over and over and over again. And what helped me a lot was just, um, making clips for other YouTubers. It’s like, “Oh, I really like this,” so I learned how to download the video and then edit it in Da Vinci Resolve. It’s really easy if you want to learn video editing. And just practicing and practicing and practicing, and it really helped my YouTube channel grow.

And I was able to, like, spread a good message by making these clips and then helping my own YouTube channel. But if I had just been playing video games that entire time, same thing, I wouldn’t… like, you wouldn’t have all of this. So it’s like the free time that you have in high school and college, um, or just those ages, like, use it really wisely because as you get older, you have less and less free time. As you get married, as you have kids, that free time goes away.

So you really need to build that foundation when you’re single and have a lot of free time. The worst thing you can do is just spend it watching video games and anime and porn. Um, that’s going to destroy your soul, and it’s going to set you up for failure.

So, yeah, I, um, you know, there are monks, of course, who keep, uh, skulls of the deceased as a memento mori, you know? And for me, I actually have never deleted my old Steam profile because every once in a while I go and look, just let me remind myself how many hours I played on how many hours I wasted on this, and it is pathetic, you know?

And, uh, you know, that… but importantly, we can all look back at the things we miss. But the truth is, there’s always… well, I don’t want to say there’s always time for repentance. I will tell you there’s time for repentance right now. I don’t know what tomorrow is going to hold; I don’t know what’s going to happen to you in 30 minutes. But right now, you can repent of everything, all your sins.

But also, you can be like… the thing is, one other kind of thing about the West, when it comes to repentance and all this kind of stuff, is it almost makes it seem like, oh, it’s punitive, and it’s all… oh, I don’t just… oh, it causes despair. You know, people freak out about the evil they’ve done. But the truth is, through repentance, when you have changed, you know, when your news has changed and you have a new perspective, it’s an exciting time.

Like, confession of forgiveness is exciting because the new possibilities, the new things that open are just like… you can’t shut up about them. Like, there’s just so much to explore, and there just aren’t enough time… there’s not enough time in the day, but you’re still going to make it worth it, you know? It’s still going to be great.

So, um, you know, despair is bad. Like, I never… it’s important, you know, I say a lot of things that might… people might think are negative: “Don’t do this, don’t do that,” blah, blah, blah. That’s a bad thing. But, like, I’m only saying that because, like, those are anchors keeping you away from the stuff that matters, that’s so much better.

Maybe I should make that more clear, but I’m telling you now, tell everyone else you know.

Yeah, that’s what really matters. It is… it’s so freeing once you understand this. Once you have discipline… discipline is not… it’s not controlling; it’s freeing. I mean, that’s what Christ brings us: true freedom. You’re not a slave to sin and all these things. You can truly be free, and that’s what God made us for.

So, yeah, I think this is a great place to end it. I would love to do a part three sometime if we want to… if any… there’s any topics that, you know, people want us to talk about, you know, comment them below. If you have any more questions for Luke or me, I would love to do that.

I’m so happy that we could do this interview, and I really hope that everyone, you know, has a good Lent. Hopefully, we gave some… talked about some things that would be edifying that you can keep in mind for overcoming sins. But, um, thank you, Luke.

Yeah, thanks for having me on. It’s fun.

So, yeah, part three, that’s a possibility.

Yeah, we’ll keep in touch.

YouTube comments

@LukeSmithxyz - 2025-03-17 13:33:41

I said after we finished to Kyle that this talk was actually even better than the last! It isn't just a comments read! We'll probably do this again at some point soon. A couple notes: 1) I remember I totally lost my track of thought talking about essences vs. energies and how they relate to the loss of "nous" in the West. I'll have to get to that one next time or in another video. Sorry! I again also strongly recommend Fr. Seraphim Rose's Orthodox Survival Guide (available on YT) as the first couple of lectures are on the change in mindset that unfortunately occurred in the post-schism Frankish world. 2) The basic term that slipped my mind in the talk on philosophy was just "justified true belief." I actually already recorded a video to be released on this, but the point is that most of the tradition of western philosophy is functionally fixed on the idea that the goal of the whole discipline is justifying belief. I don't actually think this is the case. You'll see my video and understand why.+143

@Moonraider07 - 2025-03-17 13:33:41

Christ is risen ☦️+66

@za4ria - 2025-05-17 13:33:41

He seems even more relaxed now, we miss you Luke. I’m happy that he found a way out of this mess, hopefully everyone here will.+10

@antadhg - 2025-04-17 13:33:41

Please bring back Not Related, I'm still waiting for the episode on Pre-Historic civilisation that you've clearly been working towards for so long.+44

@knightrider585 - 2025-03-17 13:33:41

Looking forward to seeing Luke's new videos. Back when he stopped publishing on his youtube I was still a confused atheist investigating Anglicanism. Now I am a baptised Orthodox Christian. Glory to God!+35

@aaronspeedy7780 - 2025-04-17 13:33:41

I want to thank both of you so much for these two conversations. It was the start of many experiences I've had that are now leading to many people in my life realizing the truth, beauty, and profoundness of Christianity+2

@mohamedmonem2645 - 2025-05-17 13:33:41

Always happy to see Luke again, best to you both+3

@toobskuiks116 - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

This is just so great. Luke smith helped me so much.+10

@thomas-hall - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

Blessed Lent indeed+15

@gangstaelegantproductions2780 - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

Just woke up and love to see this!!+7

@Mipetz38 - 2025-04-17 13:33:42

22:00 AAAAH! I can't wait to listen to those videos and the wisdom Luke has acquired these last years! Even history and linguistic interpretations would be dope!+6

@tree_0I0_bark - 2025-04-17 13:33:42

Found Luke Smith when I was looking for linux stuff years ago, and his good humor & generosity in sharing advice and wisdom I've found helpful and edifying, especially on the Orthodox Church. We come to the end of ourselves, that we may trust each other, united in Christ. The separation of the Body is as cruel as any torture inflicted on one corporeal form, realizing that creates the need to reach out more.+4

@backward_walker - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

From linguistics to latex to Linux to orthodoxy. What a journey+13

@davor6966 - 2025-06-03 13:33:42

Hey thanks for all these videos Kyle. I became a stronger catholic because of them.+2

@false_dino - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

Ask Luke about time management in High School because it takes so much time. Sports, Job, Work on Skills at Home? Obviously general thoughts everybody's situation can be different. + HS in general.+11

@travis1687 - 2025-05-17 13:33:42

Luke, you were my first exposure to orthodox Christianity. Thank you.+3

@goyworldorder - 2025-04-17 13:33:42

Luke is continuously the most interesting figure on youtube, great guy! Would love to have correspondence with him but I respect his aversion to the internet+11

@kevinrhatigan5656 - 2025-04-17 13:33:42

"The Pope (Papa) is so called because he is the father of fathers." "The Roman Pontiff is the head of all the churches." "The Apostolic See has been established as the highest authority in the Church." So much for St Isidore saying nothing about the Pope.+20

@adamkay1494 - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

Love the interviews with Luke+3

@Michael_Smith_1 - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

Great interview!+3

@brotherbrovet1881 - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

As to the Nous: I'm Hillbilly Orthodox in the Ozarks. In talking to my Hillbilly neighbors, once explained, they quickly understand what the Nous is.+5

@machinotaur - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

Love your work, m8. I watched your old videos when I was learning to code, is the tech to Orthodoxy pipeline real?+5

@gangstaelegantproductions2780 - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

Thanks for all you do Luke you have I fluenced a lot of people into orthodoxy+2

@mondomerda9237 - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

Another brilliant video+2

@LawrenceHe - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

happy to see this interview, but sad that the only way we get to hear from Luke is basically through this channel+3

@cradl3d - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

When you gonna show your orthodox rice+9

@damonthepilot - 2025-03-17 13:33:42

But is orthodox more based and F.L.O.S.S then the other branches of christian belief systems??+3

@freemanwest - 2025-04-17 13:33:42

Please make videos again if you want Luke!!+3

@Sean-te5xj - 2025-04-17 13:33:42

You can live the sermon on the mount, Or you can waste precious time trying to be a Pharisee with an airtight theology.+1

@Eddengarthian - 2025-04-17 13:33:42

My parasocial father figure and favorite content creator is coming back from shopping milk.+7

@RoofusRoof19 - 2025-04-17 13:33:42

do you not believe in space?+1

@Veri7a - 2025-04-17 13:33:42

Man what a ride from the sideline finding you for linux content to learning about linguistics to watching you come to faith. Awesome.+3

@ChristopherDistrobution - 2025-05-17 13:33:42

Luke, I can tell you 100%, I would want you to write a book about the English reformation. This sounds INCREDIBLY interesting and I think could be very good. Many know about the Swiss and German reformations, but this one sound fire (as my gen z would say). Side note, English enlightenment was a side quest study I had while in business school. Grace and peace.+1

@skeletor3172 - 2025-05-17 13:33:42

God bless you.+1

@raymondcannon2141 - 2025-03-17 13:33:43

He is truly Risen! ☦️+8

@quickestlaughs - 2025-03-17 13:33:43

Based pfp+2

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-03-17 13:33:43

☦️☦️+6

@triedtofail - 2025-05-17 13:33:43

One really wonders what is next+1

@coolbro_9520 - 2025-05-17 13:33:43

This might sound like a dismissive response, but once you get out of highschool you'll realise how much time was wasted and probably not think about it again. Luke has said before that he doesn't recommend college+7

@goyworldorder - 2025-04-17 13:33:44

In the off-chance that Luke is still reading these comments, what are you doing for work these days and is cybersecurity still a good career path? I've got like 5 different certifications for Cisco, CompTIA all that jazz but work feels very dull and lifeless, there is no soul in managing databases and Exchange lol. Doesn't help that, while my job isn't offshoring my position to India, that might come sooner than later. It's pretty demoralizing that something I spent around 10000 hours getting good at will soon prove to not be of any use to me. Any tips how to survive this landscape would be appreciated :- )+5

@OthorgonalOctroon - 2025-04-17 13:33:44

I found a website that archived his deleted blog posts and it looks like he was even more interesting as an atheist+3

@maximilianmusterhans4659 - 2025-04-17 13:33:44

@OthorgonalOctroon Can you share please? I wasn't aware that his current list of articles is incomplete.+1

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-04-17 13:33:44

Did you hear what he said? he didn't say that the Pope didn't exist, he said that there no mention of the Pope as anything other than the Patriarch. In the Post-Schism Church, Pope is above the Patriarchs and has a special charism of infallibility and he will never defect (yet we see numerous times in Church history where Pope does defect. Pope could be called the Father of Fathers, head of all the Church, and highest honor / authority because he was a first among equals because See was doubly apostolic and defender of Orthodoxy. None of the quotations contradict what Luke said in the video, I highly recommend you read The Cheiti & Alexandria document approved by the Vatican that admit the Orthodox position (Pope Benedict also admitted it). Check out my playlist "if you are Catholic", I used to be Catholic also, God bless!+18

@strange_man_upstairs - 2025-05-17 13:33:44

Can you provide citations for these quotations?+2

@kevinrhatigan5656 - 2025-05-17 13:33:44

@strange_man_upstairs De Ecclesiasticis Officiis -St Isidore of Seville+3

@TrintsLaDentro - 2025-06-03 13:33:44

​ @kevinrhatigan5656 Just looked into it, and I can't seem to find these quotes anywhere in the work you mentioned. Which chapters are they in?+2

@9lovemedo - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

Dang this is a banger. Thank uou+3

@spytronx - 2025-05-17 13:33:44

So glad he's back+2

@voinoiudarie3361 - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

thanks for the video Kyle, great stuff. Luke helped me discover a lot of good ideas that put me on the right track. keep these coming man, and have a good Lent+2

@Charlie-gk1uq - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

Thank you for the talk!+3

@GCMit - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

Vim to Orthodoxy pipeline+8

@JonasThente-ji5xx - 2025-04-17 13:33:44

Thank you king Kyle and king Luke! Best duo+1

@ivdas_machabevs - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

Nice to see Luke again! I've gotten a lot of value out of tech-related videos he has posted. This history of the English "Reformation" sounds very interesting. I concur with the basic thesis that he is putting forth here, and I'm looking forward to seeing him expanding on the thesis, whether in book or lecture form. As for the critique of the papacy, I think this critique based on absence of evidence for the title is quite weak. That there are not explicit references to "*the* Pope" to be found just commits a word/concept fallacy and overlooks a number of other titles bestowed by Church Fathers that convey the same or a similar meaning. In de Maistre's defense of the papacy, Book 1, chapter 10, he gives a huge list of different titles attested by Church Fathers east and west, I'd recommend giving it a peak (should be on Internet Archive). The concept is what is of greatest import, not the specific term used to denote the concept. "Transubstantiation" doesn't occur in patristic writing, but it's quite clear that the doctrine is there (whether or not you agree fully with the Latin concept of transubstantiation, I'm sure the two of you at least agree that the patristic basis of transub is sound, and that Protestant Eucharistic theology is horrendously heretical). I'm not saying that that in itself is sufficient to substantiate the dogma as defined in Vatican I, but I think it defeats this argument that Luke has presented here.+4

@ArletteUpNorth - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

Wow I'm going to have to go through each section again and do further study. Thank you for making this video with Luke! So much great information. I'm struggling with converting due to various issues over 4 years since leaving Paganism, some because of beliefs and others because the churches don't have time to help me or resources to help me get there and consistency with attending in person classes is a struggle. It's been a long, frustrating process. Need some prayers. They keep asking me to wait until the fall to start classes, but stuff happens to prevent me from going and I'm well-read, yet I'm told I need to be in person for every weekly class in addition to services before I can be baptized and everything else. It feels like God doesn't want me at times. I know that's not true but the struggle to actually be able to join the church makes my heart sad.+2

@ConvincedofChristianity - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

Great interview! Alive in Christ!+2

@con_sci - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

thank you Luke, very cool!+2

@Dovus-V - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

35:19 Holy Based. Space is fake and gray.+18

@anonymous-rm3ut - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

St. Augustine, pray for us 🙏🏻+4

@MILLIONDOLLARPOVERTY - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

ANOTHER LUKE SMITH COLLAB? Christmas has come early+4

@RealDennyCrane - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

funny, I was actually hoping that luke smith would write a book about the english reformation!+8

@Dovus-V - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

Christ is Alive.+7

@felixlipski3956 - 2025-04-17 13:33:44

Not Related! on Ray Peat would be so interesting...+5

@eddienastovski8163 - 2025-04-17 13:33:44

I just had some Jehovah's witnesses at my door and we had a lovely talk about The Bible, beliefs and comparison to Orthodox and Jehovah's witness. However what struck me the most is their belief that Jesus isn't God and is just his Son. That and they don't celebrate Christmas as well as not having a hell. I'd love to see a debunking on this hersey. Love your videos Kyle, keep doing Gods work and spreading the word of the true church. Amen+2

@Pabloparsil - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

Question for the next time: how's the homestead? are you cultivating?+2

@veenajoshua9461 - 2025-05-17 13:33:44

I'd love to hear about Ray Peat from Luke Smith+2

@MackBanjo23 - 2025-03-17 13:33:44

I can't quit pron. I've tried deleting all the apps but I always reinstall them. Pray for me please.+14

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-03-17 13:33:45

Thanks for the comment (:+2

@fadinglightsarefading - 2025-05-17 13:33:45

*latex+1

@LukeSmithxyz - 2025-03-17 13:33:45

I don't care about the word. My main point is about the lack of concept. (Although the lack of word absolutely does attest to lack of the concept and even by itself is a strong argument.) As I said, it's pretty easy to scope over 2000 of texts and manufacture "evidence" of the papacy in the same was a Protestant can find "evidence" for iconoclasm or the rapture or faith-alone. But in the honest historical context, all of these documents, especially those that explain the workings of the Church in detail, assume a structure of the Church no different from today's Orthodox Church. Comparison with transubstantiation isn't really valid. You have people in Generation 1 saying, "The Eucharist is Christ's body" without the later Aristotelian term for it. You don't have people of Generation 1 saying, "The Church is centered in the bishop of Rome who has universal jurisdiction and guaranteed unwavering faith." In fact, as soon as things get moving you see people actually refer to his limited jurisdiction and you see times Rome is at variance with itself or now accepted councils.+3

@LukeSmithxyz - 2025-04-17 13:33:45

​ @ivdas_machabevs This is really just exactly what I'm talking about. None of these are titles, or concepts, or set vocabulary for a known position, but variant words of respect that at the very most say what I said is actually true: the Patriarch of Rome was the first in the diptychs, but in most cases are terms applicable to any Patriarch. Again, you are doing something no different from what a Protestant does with the concept of the Rapture. You have an idea alien to history, but you are trying to read it into contextless passages. Councils tell you that Rome has a set local jurisdiction like all other Patriarchates. "Infallbile" popes are anathematized by councils. "Infallible" popes sometimes anathematized their "infallble" predecessors. I will say, it is untrue that this is a "division in epistemology." The Roman church lied and fell from the faith. They produced centuries of fraudulent documents to increase the power of the Pope of Rome against their enemies until their own lies splintered and destroyed their church. All the lies that Vatican I would be based on have been proven forgeries and nonsense, but the illusion created by those lies remains and is the interpretive frame of Catholics today. No Christian of the period reading these title would ever read from them Vatican I. Roman Catholic apologists do not "study this issues." They come with a false conclusion, scope over huge swathes of text and search for some statistical noise that will help them propagate their false conclusion.+2

@justin-zk3cz - 2025-04-17 13:33:46

Being a catechumen (ex-occultist and pagan) was absolutely a struggle and I went through many periods where I felt like: I'm being left out to twist in the wind, the priest is forgetting about me, when will I be baptized?? It was 2 1/2 years from when I initially decided to set foot in an Orthodox church, to actually being received into the church. I would say just keep attending as many services as you are able (you will find that stuff in the world keeps happening to try and keep you out), keep praying (ask your intended patron saint to pray for you, if you know who you want that to be), be patient! God does want you in the Church, it will be a struggle and there will be more, different struggles once you are in. God bless+1

@cfroi08 - 2025-03-17 13:33:46

No chud they have air conditioning in space, how does it work without air flow? Uhhh well it just does. Trust the science!+9

@nousquest - 2025-03-17 13:33:46

No chud we just lost the technology to get to the moon and couldn't figure it out again for the past 53 years+8

@Hero_Of_Old - 2025-03-17 13:33:46

The earth is a dome, an enclosed system.+1

@kerm-dafrog - 2025-03-17 13:33:46

good source for this ?+1

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-03-17 13:33:46

haha xD perfect if true+2

@hismajesty6272 - 2025-03-17 13:33:46

“Stripping of the Altars” by Duffy is a great resource on it. It debunks Protestant propaganda abound late English Catholicism, and shows how depraved the English Reformation was, and the sheer level of depth the a English people lost+4

@bulletsizednuke1100 - 2025-04-17 13:33:46

Are you running for President, Mr. Crane?+1

@RealDennyCrane - 2025-04-17 13:33:46

@bulletsizednuke1100 God can't make things that easy for us, soldier!+1

@OldVarrock-o3r - 2025-04-17 13:33:46

I highly recommend taking regular breaks from the computer and going for walks outside. You really start to become cynical and detached in a weird way after spending consecutive hours in front of a screen, which is part of what allows you to make these kinds of destructive choices. That's just my theory and experience anyway. God bless.+3

@downrangedave3845 - 2025-04-17 13:33:46

go to confession, take communion more than once a week.+4

@justin-zk3cz - 2025-04-17 13:33:46

Reject lustful thoughts and images and turn to prayer as soon as they occur. You probably have a kind of habitual track or process you go through that leads to the sin, start fighting at the earliest possible stage where you recognize you're going in that direction.+4

@GuerreroMisterioso95 - 2025-05-17 13:33:46

Brother, find something productive to do.+1

@MackBanjo23 - 2025-05-17 13:33:46

@GuerreroMisterioso95 I am doing productive things. I'm learning welding, banjo, and guitar.+1

@drdaffner - 2025-05-17 13:33:47

You are doing the lords work. God bless you.+1

@joshuadonahue5871 - 2025-03-17 13:33:47

Never clicked so fast+4

@OmegaLaser-xy4ip - 2025-05-17 13:33:47

LUKE HAS GONE FULL MYSTIC MONK+3

@blitzkrieg2928 - 2025-04-17 13:33:47

Today is getting better and better+2

@ChristopherDistrobution - 2025-05-17 13:33:47

On lust: pray the Jesus prayer, the Jesus prayer, the Jesus prayer. Over. Repeat. Let your tears roll down your cheek. Pray for the right perspective. Love beauty. Love the purity of a woman. Love the purity of their smile. Practice the contra. And LEAD. On atheism: the same can actually be said of fundamentalism! It is the pragmatic breaking down of things into stupid, small conclusions that is the issue. That is what fundamentalism is, which was to counter secularism BUT it is in the same train of thought!+1

@SimonPertus - 2025-04-17 13:33:47

For a possible part 3: My formally atheist friend actually started seriously considering the possibility of truth in Christianity after the Logos-video. Though I was raised Christian in a slightly more modern Anabaptist setting than Conservative Mennonites for example, and I knew my Bible well, this was way too high for me back in the day. Later, my friend went into Roman Catholicism over Sola Scriptura and I started to inquire into Orthodoxy about a year after that for similar reasons. Coming from an Anabaptist background I also came to the realization of how wrong, destructive and unnatural our modern lifestyle is and how much better something simple, natural and even plain (as Anabaptists would say) is. Before coming across Orthodoxy I seriously considered working towards moving to the US and joining a more or less traditional, conservative, even Old Order Mennonite/Amish community. Getting introduced to Ted Kaczynski by my friend and reading many other books, learning about certain people, etc only further concreted the general idea of pursuing such a life. I’m now almost 23 years old, unmarried , from Germany and just got into university. I know Luke already talked extensively on the why such a natural lifestyle in a kind of romantic village with meaningful work, religious unity, leisure time, homeschooling, a lot of family time, etc is good and desirable. But what are some concrete practical things one can do? Are there certain skills or even professions that you would recommend learning, do you have some advice on how to best save money, how to buy land, etc?+1

@AmexL - 2025-03-17 13:33:47

Vim Diesel himself.+4

@maximilianmusterhans4659 - 2025-04-17 13:33:47

Thank you for answering my comment. Luke was correct that it was not meant in a hateful way. Apparently, I just misunderstood his "new approach", in that I got the impression that his plan was to withdraw completely from the world, i.e. no further writing, or publication of any kind, which would have been a waste of his potential in my opinion. But I am glad that this is not the case. By the way, I would be very interested in Luke's take on Ray Peat's work, which I have studied quite a bit.+1

@Asthenar - 2025-05-17 13:33:47

I would really like to hear the elaboration on space doesn't exist!+1

@mareklorincz531 - 2025-05-17 13:33:47

luke just appearing in peoples lives and making them better+1

@wasumyon - 2025-05-27 13:33:47

The Eastern Orthodox general ecclesial position vis a vis RC is that they agree with the Council of Florence which is on agreement on matters from the filioque to Petrine primacy except for universal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome.+1

@jimmies - 2025-04-17 13:33:47

This is good but I don't like the jumpcuts. It makes the conversation harder to follow at times and I feel like I'm missing things he's saying.+3

@oyzxkrsduc - 2025-04-17 13:33:47

thanks to Luke I became a jew+3

@CanditoTrainingHQ - 2025-03-17 13:33:47

I'd love to see this guy and Christian Wagner talk about the papacy.+5

@unazoomer1306 - 2025-04-17 13:33:47

The second coming!+2

@LawrenceHe - 2025-05-17 13:33:47

luke smith in 2021: "imagine being a bugman and following some eastern religion like buddhisim that you have no familial or cultural connection to" luke smith in 2025: "i follow orthodoxy because its true, if the orthodox church was chinese, i would go to china"+1

@barjaktar - 2025-03-17 13:33:47

ONCE MORE!+4

@SuperRetroBoy64 - 2025-04-17 13:33:47

One thing to keep in mind, IMO, is that "dropping out" should not be seen as an absolute good or the only morally acceptable way. The nomadic Small-hatted folk were able to survive for generations (and thrive today) in societies that didn't like them, albeit through political maneuvering and hiding their beliefs AFAIK. (Kinda violates the whole "light on the hill" thing.) Dropping out obviously works for Luke because he was a freaking professor and didn't have much to lose, but there are still many believers who are successful within the system. I think Luke should see himself as the "Bailey" in the Motte and Baily arrangement: the safe stronghold that your "warriors" (system people) can retreat to when they get "injured" (lose their jobs). To cease from political life altogether as some kind of moral good is foolish: those who beat their swords into plowshares will be ruled by those who kept their swords. Plus, there will always be people who want danger and adventure, and will seek to escape the village. Business and politics are the new war, and you will eventually bear sons who wish to be warriors. Though, I say this as a Nietzsche-adjacent theist rather than Orthodox. Perhaps it is better to "expire" as a pure white lamb than live a blood-soaked lion. (Since you said warriors and kings can be saints, I expect this is not the case.)+2

@aaronspeedy7780 - 2025-04-17 13:33:47

I think consciousness is a proof of God. Once you get dualism, you have to ask how our experience is linked to our brain. Our brain is super complex, so the only thing that could link it is a super-intelligent, omnipresent, being.+1

@Bruh-co8sw - 2025-04-17 13:33:47

LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE+3

@josechacon2446 - 2025-05-27 13:33:47

The council of Florence was condemned by future Orthodox councils. It is not accepted by any Orthodox jurisdiction. The laity rioted over Florence. Where are you getting this information from? An argument for Petrine primacy isn’t absolute. Constantinople was put ahead of Antioch which is both a Petrine jurisdiction and doubly apostolic. Peter founded his ministry in Antioch before he did so in Rome. Rome was not some special jurisdiction from day one of the Church’s founding. Just like Constantinople, Rome would be raised in precedence due to its importance in the empire. Chalcedon explained all of this clearly.+1

@wasumyon - 2025-05-27 13:33:47

@josechacon2446 Father Stephen Damick and Father Stephen De Young+1

@josechacon2446 - 2025-05-27 13:33:47

@wasumyon Father Seraphim Rose and Saint Gregory Palamas+1

@wasumyon - 2025-05-27 13:33:47

@josechacon2446 I see they are from the Antiochian Orthodox church, my bad.+1

@fadinglightsarefading - 2025-05-17 13:33:48

or you can just do your own research instead of taking pleasure at sensational dogmatic polemics+1

@CanditoTrainingHQ - 2025-05-17 13:33:48

@fadinglightsarefading Fallacy. It's not an either/or to want a debate. Next!+1

@OthorgonalOctroon - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

>Nietzsche-adjacent theist what does this mean? from what I understand of Nietzsche's values, they're very contrary to the theologies I know about+1

@SuperRetroBoy64 - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

​@ Logically, I believe in the divine in some capacity, but not a Christian capacity, in spite of my personal emotional sentiments.+1

@quickestlaughs - 2025-03-17 13:33:48

☦️+4

@mk-tb9gm - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

I wonder if you or Luke have read Douglas Hofstadter's Godel Escher Bach and have thoughts on it. For me, that book has provided the the most compelling argument for how consciousness could be an emergent property of the brain. I don't want to summarize everything from that book because I'd be doing it an injustice, but I'll provide a snippet of the main point. The crux of the argument is that brain is just material (like hardware in a computer), and consciousness (i.e. all of our thoughts, ideas, sense of self, etc.) emerge similar to how software is programmed in a computer, with the idea being that the programs in our brains can program more programs which can in turn program more programs and so on (i.e. "strange loops"). Through this complex process, different layers of abstraction our built up in the "software" of our brains, and these layers interact with one another in complex ways such that they are constantly reprogramming themselves. I'd be curious to hear your opinions on why this might not be a valid explanation for consciousness. Also - if you haven't read the book, it is definitely an interesting read that I highly recommend! It will give you a lot of cool insights into the complexity of the physical world, art, and whatnot. I really enjoyed the discussion as always though! My question is asked in earnest, not as a "gotcha" or anything :)+1

@Walker888 - 2025-03-17 13:33:48

Get redpilled on stuff that doesn't matter Me+4

@DongleTheElf - 2025-03-17 13:33:48

I am currently a protestant dabbling in the ideas of the Eastern Orthodox Church after I've been observing problems (to do with many different things) with the attitudes and ideas of my own church and related denominations. Would you recommend any books that would give me a better and accessible general understanding of Orthodoxy, its practices and theology?+3

@perguto - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

Regarding the real history of the (English) Reformation: What sources (be it in Latin, English or German) can you recommend?+1

@Hero_Of_Old - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

Luke is also a based space denier? Nice!+2

@dasdfasdfasdfasdf-p6b - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

So the ideas that because one western saint didnt define the supremacy of the bishop of rome, the papacy is false? Does John 1 not matter? Does the council of acts not matter? Does the council of Chalcedon not matter? Does the council of Ephesus not matter? I love my EO brothers and pray daily for reunion, but the idea that the papacy is V1 fabrication is not based in reality.+4

@RichardGuzman-f5v - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

This is a question targeted at Luke. What are your thoughts on the Tower of Babbel and the scrambling of tongues? I’m curious because of your background in linguistics. Thanks!+1

@fornost64 - 2025-03-17 13:33:48

Need Luke Smith, Kyle and Anthony of Westgate on a stream together to discuss cosmology+4

@JORA52 - 2025-03-17 13:33:48

Hows lent going everyone+4

@premed808 - 2025-03-17 13:33:48

Can you do a video specifically focusing on what is problematic with Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, and their canonizations?+1

@CursedKitten1 - 2025-05-27 13:33:48

PLEASE do Ray Peat+1

@barkabark - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

🙏+1

@felixlipski3956 - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

It would be interesting to hear Luke elaborate on western occultism. His blog post on Hermeticism is what really sparked my interest in the topic and I remember him speaking positively of freemasonery in one live-stream. Obviously he also on numerous occasions has said that all the new age stuff, like Theosophy is totally inane. So I'm getting mixed signals. Is it ALL demonic? How about the very explicitly christian and angelic currents?+1

@Daniel_Locke - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

37:40 People don't "believe" in human rights, we just like them, and they are fair between all.+2

@nomoloz - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

1:27:33 preeminence/identity+1

@Nickelbawker - 2025-05-27 13:33:48

13:00 I seriously want to uninstall YouTube right I got consumption issues with it+1

@veenajoshua9461 - 2025-05-17 13:33:48

Why I disagree with Luke on Catholicism: Orthodoxy lacks unity and recently one Orthodox church has been persecuting the other orthodox church in Ukraine. There is more unity between Chaldean/Syro malabar church and Latin churcu within Catholicism than two orthodox churches in the same country. This seems like a problem a lack of authority of the Pope gives. Luke presses hard against Catholic philosophy and understanding of the world. However I believe this is an opinion based argument. We can have great orthodox philosophy and still be united and Catholic. The west has always been more faustian than the east and therefore theres a difference in how they do things. Orthodox bishops and churches have slipped in to many suspicious pagan things themselves. If anything I believe the reuniting of the Orthodox church with the Catholic church can bring more diversity of fruits and enrich everyone+3

@Daniel_Locke - 2025-04-17 13:33:48

36:42 hopefully embarrassed why? "what's the difference with a hate crime?" the difference is that's assault/discrimination....+2

@heheheha529 - 2025-05-17 13:33:48

55:00+2

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-03-17 13:33:49

Check out my playlist called “if you are Protestant” and “becoming Orthodox” there are many helpful videos in the playlists. I have a video called Best Orthodox Christian books and some of those may be helpful to you 🙏 The Law of God is a good starter book along with an Orthodox Study Bible. God bless you on your journey and reach out anytime 👍. You should also come visit a church and talk to a priest, the faith is something to be experienced!+2

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-04-17 13:33:49

1. It’s not just one Saint, the consensus of the Church is not the Vatican I model in the first 1000 years. Luke just gave one example of how a prominent Saints who defined EVERYTHING in depth, just happened to not define the most important office of the papacy, patriarch is the highest and the pope is a patriarch, not anything higher… Also Luke is just giving one key example, I have many videos showing how Papal Supremacy is not present in first 1000 years.. you have councils that anathematized popes.. 2. John 1 doesn’t prove the Papacy? You really think Orthodox don’t understand the Bible. Church Fathers didn’t interpret any Bible verse to prove papal supremacy. 3. Council of Chalcedon doesn’t prove the Papacy? Catholic historians have admitted it doesn’t, watch my video Great Schism: who was right? Neither does Ephesus. Popes literally admit the Orthodox position: Rome must not require more from the East with respect to the doctrine of primacy than what had been formulated and was lived in the first millennium . . . Rome need not ask for more. Reunion could take place in this context if, on the one hand, the East would cease to oppose as heretical the developments that took place in the West in the second millennium and would accept the Catholic Church as legitimate and orthodox in the form she had acquired in the course of that development, while, on the other hand, the West would recognize the Church of the East as orthodox and legitimate in the form she has always had.” Joseph Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic Theology, San Francisco, Ignatius, 1987, p. 199. Also, Vatican has released the Cheri & Alexandria document that admit the Orthodox position? Vatican I claims a divinely revealed papacy yet that is not found and admitted by the Vatican to be false. Vatican I is a fabrication, just read Council of Nicea , the canons show no divinely revealed papacy? Read canon 4 & 6. 5th council condemned a Pope… and just look at the modern Catholic Church, completely irreverent Protestant worship, modernist Saints and popes who are blatant heretics! You really think I need Pope Francis for salvation? He doesn’t even teach that. He teaches salvation outside of Rome. I recommend you study Orthodoxy more, check out ubi Petrus. God bless ☦️🙏+4

@cfroi08 - 2025-03-17 13:33:49

Day by day, the diet is the easiest part. Spiritually growing is the hard part.+5

@hismajesty6272 - 2025-03-17 13:33:49

Rocky. I’m getting on track though. This is my first time.+2

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-03-17 13:33:49

Search “heresies of John Paul II & heresies of Mother Teresa”. There are already videos detailing the scandal and apostasy that they engaged it. They are following the spirit of Vatican II. I used to be Catholic, check out my other videos! God bless ☦️🙏+2

@felixlipski3956 - 2025-04-17 13:33:50

Seems like he deleted the article on Hermeticism shortly after this comment. Would be nice to address this.+1

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-04-17 13:33:50

Did you listen to the full conversation? Atheist made an argument that same sex relations are just the moving the atoms, so why care? That same argument could be used against anything include a “hate crime/ discrimination”. They are all moving of atoms, reductionism doesn’t prove anything and is self refuting… that is the point.+2

@Daniel_Locke - 2025-04-17 13:33:50

@OrthodoxKyle I'm not defending reductionism, I'm making the point that no one likes discrimination. Why compare that gay example with hate crimes and discrimination in the first place? It's obvious where you two came from with that.+2

@aedd3307 - 2025-05-17 13:33:50

@Daniel_Locke The point of that was to show that that reductionist argument is stupid and self-refuting, if it's not a problem because "it's all just atoms bro" then why is anything a problem?+1

@Daniel_Locke - 2025-05-17 13:33:50

@ Once again, I'm not talking about reductionism. Why wring up a bad explanation for homosexuality just to put it down like that? These lunatics are talking about orthodox Christianity, it's not hard to figure out.+1

@Daniel_Locke - 2025-05-17 13:33:50

@ I think I didn't tag you so here you go+1

@poorlittlemonkey - 2025-03-17 13:33:51

Do they talk about Linux?+6

@John_Marston_Sr - 2025-04-17 13:33:51

Can you pls ask him about AI? thanks+2

@Daniel_Locke - 2025-04-17 13:33:51

Why would you constantly fight with yourself over feelings of lust if you can get it over with in like 10 minutes? It's in your best interest, that way you can move on, you won't feel the need to do it more than 2 or 3 times in a day anyway. You won't ever win against those natural impulses just get it over with so it's not constantly on your mind.+3

@Asthenar - 2025-05-17 13:33:51

The background to the comments looks like from Oblivion?+1

@MrownXXV - 2025-03-17 13:33:51

Can you ask Luke if he still interested in holding Monero?+5

@hismajesty6272 - 2025-03-17 13:33:51

Hey there. I’m going into Catholicism from non denominational Protestantism, and I have a question for the Ortho Bros out there: are y’all allowed to pray the Catholic Rosary if you exclude the Filioque? Thanks in advance, and God bless.+1

@anonymous-rm3ut - 2025-03-17 13:33:51

☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️ ☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️ ☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️☦️+2

@BeautifulMathematics-h2b - 2025-03-17 13:33:51

Hello, can you please comment on the Moscow Constantinople Schism and how it affects holy Orthodoxy.+1

@TheDeserter-t9u - 2025-03-17 13:33:51

Why is the thumbnail a sam shamoun style thumbnail😂+5

@lorenzozapaton4031 - 2025-04-17 13:33:51

Did you embrace Emacs?+1

@austinbruce6917 - 2025-05-17 13:33:51

Who is this guy?+1

@skylerharris3914 - 2025-03-17 13:33:51

Serious question from a non-orthodox. If I were to join the Orthodox Church, could I choose to not pray to Mary or other saints, choose to not sing any hymns that are about anyone else but God, and choose to not engage with icons? Couldn’t that be a conviction thing?+1

@darkslippery1996 - 2025-03-17 13:33:51

Luke is daddy. Thanks, boys. 🙏🏻☦️+1

@greg4629 - 2025-03-17 13:33:51

wait his catholicism vs EO debate is just liberal vs conservative . i expected more+2

@tensofthousands1 - 2025-04-17 13:33:51

youtube is so funny to me. On one side you have Grant from 3b1b and Terence Tao explaining the history of cosmic distance calculations, and then on the other you have some bearded guy denying space+1

@Kenanalasadi8989 - 2025-04-17 13:33:51

The reason why orthodox seems a bit intact is because they were ruled by Muslims, which give them an idea of how real religious people believe in something+2

@Sean-te5xj - 2025-04-17 13:33:51

Rabbinical kvetching, y'all should just convert to Judaism at this point.+5

@skeithus - 2025-05-17 13:33:51

I would like You to ask Luke how does a person rid their heart of hate towards a person or a group. (In my case this group is against Christ and I genuinely believe theyre evil)+1

@DreamlessSleepwalker - 2025-04-17 13:33:51

"Nous" just means mind in Greek bro it isn't that deep.+1

@Eddengarthian - 2025-04-17 13:33:51

tldw: Luke isn't Catholic because he doesn't want to give up on the protestant anti-clericalism he grew up with. (papal_smugjak.png)+7

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-03-17 13:33:51

Yes, go to the chapter "free open source software?"+8

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-04-17 13:33:51

Why would anyone want to be a slave to their impulses? We should have self control and that is key to Christianity, to not let impulses control you, but to have discipline = to be better and grow closer to God ☦️+7

@Daniel_Locke - 2025-04-17 13:33:51

@OrthodoxKyle My point is that by withholding it you are the one that gives it more importance that it deserves, you are the one turning your head and scared to look at women because of having impure thoughts. Also, what does being closer to god means?+3

@LukeSmithxyz - 2025-03-17 13:33:52

Nice try, IRS.+27

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-03-17 13:33:52

It doesn’t really make sense for an Orthodox person to pray the Rosary when it is a post-schism devotion and we have plenty of good Orthodox prayers / prayer rope. It’s not the spirit of Orthodoxy, also Fr Paul make a video on it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ctDuVqX_9pU&pp=ygUYUHJheSB0aGUgcm9zYXlyIG9ydGhyb294 I highly recommend you look into Orthodoxy before going into Catholicism, I myself became Catholic and found many problems the longer I was Catholic. Check out my playlist called “if you’re Catholic” God bless ☦️🙏+4

@esoterico7750 - 2025-03-17 13:33:52

We pray the angelic salutation which is a slightly different version of the prayer. Also more skeptical about spiritual images+1

@hismajesty6272 - 2025-03-17 13:33:52

@OrthodoxKyle Thanks for the response. God bless.+1

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-03-17 13:33:52

If we go to Church history, there has been lots geopolitical disputes and issues get resolved over time. There has been many crises in Church history; Arian Crisis, Iconoclast Crisis, Communism, etc = The response of the Saints is to focus on Christ and stick up for the truth. Jay Dyer has good analysis on what is behind this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFbgGIhHhW0 Patriarch of Constantinople is in the wrong... But Orthodoxy isn't Papal, it doesn't rest on one Patriarch. There are lots of great bishops & priests in every Church, for the average lay person = focus on your local church, your salvation and prayer. Hope this helps, God bless 🙏+6

@BrokenStarter - 2025-03-17 13:33:52

One of the many reasons orthodoxy isn't true+1

@cfroi08 - 2025-03-17 13:33:52

​ @OrthodoxKyle you should see videos where the Patriarch of Constantinople visits churches, barely anyone attends and its basically empty. SAD!!+1

@BeautifulMathematics-h2b - 2025-03-17 13:33:52

Thank you so much . I am russian orthodox from Kazakhstan.+1

@Илья́Впрямь - 2025-03-17 13:33:53

Cuz Shamounian is BASED!+2

@Motion4000 - 2025-03-17 13:33:53

A question like that should be brought to an Orthodox priest because there are a lot of layers to what you are asking. For instance your understanding of these practices might not be fully accurate and there’s a lot of church history and teaching that provide important context.+1

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-03-17 13:33:53

You should come visit a Church, inquire into Orthodoxy and ask questions to your priest 🙏 There are amazing answers in my playlist called “if you’re Protestant”, we explain the logic and evidence for asking saints to pray for us, I also have many videos in the playlist explaining icons. You should check out Harmony’s recent video on YT called history of Christian art. Take a leap of faith, come in with an open mind and heart ☦️🙏 Join the discord and reach out if you have questions!! It makes a difference to come visit a Church and experience the faith (:+2

@skylerharris3914 - 2025-03-17 13:33:53

@Motion4000 regardless of the context, it doesn’t seem right to me that Nicaea 2 would anathematize someone for not wanting to kiss and honor or maybe even pray through man-made images of deceased people. And the absolute most traditional interpretation of anathema is damned. So does the Lord seem so petty and requiring of heavy burdens that he requires a believer to do that to man-made images or he’s damned? Jesus’ burden is light. And it seems like a non-moral issue. Again, we’re talking about man-made images. Made from wood, paint, oil or other matter. Which like idols are nothing at all as Paul said. It’s not even about if you can do it, but if you’re required in order to be a follower of Jesus.+1

@skylerharris3914 - 2025-03-17 13:33:53

@OrthodoxKyle I have visited a Greek Orthodox Church with my friend. You’re very welcoming in your words and that’s nice.+1

@LukeSmithxyz - 2025-03-17 13:33:53

Saints are not "deceased." Baptism is the first resurrection. They are more alive than we are. Our God became flesh and deified it. His very clothes healed people. Peter's shadow healed people. Christians since the very first age would save the relics of saints because God's energies are present in them. Christianity is about the elevation and deification of the created world. We are His agents of deification and those who persevere are saints. Someone who denies this and doesn't give proper respect to Christ's physical body, or His work in His saints or representations of His cross or saints or holy things are not Christians, but a Gnostics or Muslims. To put one's nose up at saints or icons is a denial of the entire role of His salvation and incarnation.+7

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-03-17 13:33:53

No.. did you watch the video? Church Fathers and notable teachers didn’t mention Papal Supremacy in first 1000 years and yet Vatican I claims that Papal Supremacy was divinely revealed and always known.. Vatican II and the modern Catholic Church is not just “liberal vs conservative”. It is contradiction & modernism vs Orthodoxy & consistency. We both made it very clear in this video.. Huge oversimplification…+4

@aljustiet - 2025-04-17 13:33:53

What's the difference between Islam and Orthodoxy?+1

@Kenanalasadi8989 - 2025-04-17 13:33:53

@aljustiet Like a whole different religions?+1

@aljustiet - 2025-04-17 13:33:53

@Kenanalasadi8989 Why? They are similar in many ways except that in Islam, people don't believe in any sort of sons of God and etc, where in Orthodoxy Jesus is son of God as I understand.+2

@OrthodoxKyle - 2025-05-17 13:33:54

I will write this down and try and ask in our next chat. It is important to remember that there is lots of evil in the world and it will always exist until after the final judgement. I bring this up because there has always been people doing evil things, and it is important to NOT lose yourself, not dehumanize someone/have hatred in your heart over a issue. We cannot control the evil in the world, we can only control ourselves, we need to look inward and focus on the evil within ourselves, cleanses ourselves from all sin, all passions, that is how I believe we can start to remove this hate. It also helps to detox from online content, since it is very blackpilling/ makes us hate the world, take a break a just focus on IRL stuff. Read the lives of the Saints, Wicked & Truly evil people persecuted & killed the Saints = and the Saints kept the love in their heart. Reading the Saints is key, and spiritual fathers. God bless!+1